Armored memories
by SilverPedals1402
Summary: When Tony loses his memory it sets off a chain reaction and he just can't seem to get some important memories back. like, Pepper. But with little/no memories things just go down hill for Tony now. Will Tony get his memories or is he stuck without them?
1. The island

**Another one of my stories. Though i dont have a lot. But this came to me after reading something and thought i would share it so READ and please like...**

"Why is it always red. Can't you try something new?" Rhodey asked.

"What's wrong with red?" Tony asked. He was working on yet another armorer. Yes it was red and gold. Only this armor was meant to go underwater.

"Nothing. Its just you normally go with a different color if the armor has a specific function. Snowy or icy climates; white. Space; black. How 'bout water; blue?" Rhodey replied with reason.

"You know what? Your right!" He smiles. He goes to his computer and says, "Computer paint the armor blue and gold when I'm finished."

[noted] The computer said.

Then Tony continued on his suit. Soon enough he was done. And he began to paint it. It was quite easy to make but also difficult because he had to make sure it was a hundred percent water proof. If not his own heart monitor could electrocute him and he'd be done. At least in theory.

"So why are you making a water suit anyways?" Pepper asked.

"Their have been distress calls sent out from a small unknown island and any boat or plane that goes in to save them is attacked by something. So I need to go there and save them. But I need to hurry. But I need to be 100% sure that my armor won't get water in it otherwise my heart monitor might shock me." Tony said as he took a look at the group that was stranded on the island from satellite imagery.

"So what was the distress call?"

"Well it was pretty much saying that a small speed boat sunk after they ran out of gas and were starting to pedal to the closest island when their boat was hit by something and it got a hole in it and sank and The people on it had to swim their way to the island but the island had no cities or houses on it. A boat near by saw them and called for help and went to help also, but they also get hit and swam to the island. So now they need me."

Rhodey began to pace. He had his thinking face on and was beginning to think that it wasn't worth it. Tony was risking to much. If any water got on his heart monitor he'd die. There was no doubt about it. He only was able to take a shower by covering it up very carefully. **(I really don't know if his heart monitor is waterproof or not but I'm gonna have it so it isn't) **So if he made a mistake in the armor or it cracked and he was in the water he'd most likely die. As he thought before.

"Dude how many people is it?" Rhodey asked.

Tony looked at the screen and counted."If I'm right... About 9. wait no 11 there's two more over there."

Rhodey sighed. That's too much to be left behind. But even if it was just one person it would still be to much to leave behind. "Okay I'm coming with you though. It could be dangerous."

"I thought you'd say that. But it's fine. I will need help carrying them back. And to carry food and blankets."

"Blankets?" Pepper asked as if he was crazy.

"Yeah When we fly them back they may be a bit cold and it can help."

She nodded in agreement and started spinning in the controller chair that she made herself so comfortable in. which could get on Rhodey's nerves, but made Tony smile. She stopped and put on a thinking face. Which was different than Rhodey's. Then she jumped up out of her seat.

"When are you leaving!" She almost shouted.

Shocked at her outburst, they just stared. They were used to it, but it was just a bit random for her. She looked at them expecting her answer. But none came. At least until Tony broke the silence.

"So why do you need to know?"

"Just answer it!" She cried out.

"Okay! As soon as it's done drying which will be in an half hour. So soon."

"DANG IT!" She yelled.

The two boys jumped. She could get loud when she yells. They really are used to the random out bursts or rambling but not all the yelling when nothing was wrong.

"I promised my dad I'd watch my baby cousin! At 2 o'clock!" She stressed.

"Pepper that's in an hour." Rhodey said.

"I know! That's the problem! What if something goes wrong and you need me?"

Both of the boys couldn't pull it together. She normally wasn't this picky if she wasn't there for the action. Sure she was upset, but not screechy mad. That was new.

"We'll be fine. We can call you!" Tony reasoned with her and checked on the process of the paint. Luckily it was close to being dry enough that the wind would dry it off. Plus the paint he used was one of the fastest drying paints ever.

"Fine." Pepper pouted quiet now.

She began to spin again and Tony and Rhodey went to the house and packed up four blankets and Tony grabbed some money from his wallet to buy food. When Roberta saw that they were carrying a bunch of blankets that they were trying to shove into packs.

"What are you two doing?" She asked putting her hands on her hips as she shifted from one foot to the other.

"Camping. Pepper invited us." Rhodey lied quickly.

"Is that so?"

"Yep!" Tony piped in.

She sighed knowing that they'd probably just sneak out anyways. "Just be careful."

They ended up with three packs filled. Mainly with blankets and food that Tony bought. It was all canned or sandwiches. Rhodey was in a smaller armor that was also waterproof, but just not as well as Tony's. Pepper had already left so they called her to say goodbye. It was 4:30 when they left and called pepper. She sounded bummed that she wasn't there, but she knew that they needed to do their job and she couldn't interfere with it or she could be risking lives.

She was feeding her cousin when she realized she forgot her bag in the armory and decided that it wouldn't harm anything if she brought her cousin with her. She was only 1 yr and a half. So When she arrived at the armory she grabbed her bag and noticed Rhodey forgot his phone so she thought that she'd bring it over to Roberta.

When she got to Rhodey's house she knocked on the door three times. And she waited til Roberta came to the door. "Hey Mrs. Rhodes. Rhodey forgot his phone and I wanted to bring it to you."

Roberta narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "I thought they were camping with you. Couldn't you just give it to Rhodey?"

"What?" Pepper asked in confusion.

"So they aren't with you. So where are they?"

Pepper's eyes widened as she realized that she just gave away Tony and Rhodey. She moved her cousin to the other hip and and began her lame excuse. "Um.. They are … at the park!"

She mentally slapped herself as she came up with one of the most horrible lies ever. Could even be worse than how Tony lies.

"Really? Tony is at the Park?"

_Darn it! She knows I'm lying! _"No...Hes at um... his lab!"

Still the worst lie ever! She should find somebody that could lie perfectly and learn their secrets.

"Never mind I don't think that I'm gonna get a strait answer from you. I guess I would just have to let you by. But I will give it to the two when they come back."

Pepper nodded and left with haste and called The two boys.

"Hello?" They both answered at once.

"Tony I accidentally blew your cover. So now you guys are in trouble. And SOMEBODY COULD HAVE TOLD ME!"

"Sorry Pep! Just we came up with it so fast that we forgot to tell you!" Tony said apologetically.

"And we didn't know you'd be talking to my mom." Rhodey said.

She sighed and said her goodbyes and went home to return to watching her cousin.

(With The boys)

They were carrying the packs over the ocean when they saw the island. It was right where the police scanners said they would be. They saw them all on the beach. Trees were everywhere on the island. The sun was setting and they were all sprawled out in the shade. It was hot. It was by the equator after all.

They were about just above the the shore and were just about to land when something came darting out after them and hit Tony in the back. They sped up hoping that once they landed they wouldn't be in danger anymore. They were right after all because just as they land on the sand the darts stopped shooting.

They walked over to the group of stranded people and they looked up at them and when they saw who it was they gave out a cheer.

"Here you guys go." Tony said handing over the pack of food to them. "This should be enough to fill you up til we're ready to head out."

They opened the pack and smiled when they saw it filled to the brim with snacks. They ate with happiness and they chit chatted and they even invited Tony and Rhodey to join them. Once they all finished they all sat in front of Tony waiting for instructions for how they were going to get out.

"Now that you guys of fed up we need to get you guys out of here. But we can only take two at a time if we want to keep everyone uninjured." Tony said.

"How would we get harmed?" One man asked. The others said 'yeah' in agreement.

"There is a long ride to land and we cant just squish everyone together and not hurting you." He explained. "So stand up and stand in a line we will choose at random who will go first."

They did as told and Tony chose two kids that were about six years old. Children first right? Rhodey grabbed a couple that stood next to each other and once they were wrapped in the blankets, they set out for land. Of course on the way back they had to dodge the darts again but this time it was harder. Rhodey managed to snake around them and already grabbed his next group and head out to land not wanting to waste time and do this as fast as possible while Tony struggled to get back.

A dart hit one of Tony's foot jets (Or what ever it was that made him fly) and he began to fly out of control and got hit multiple times. As much experience that Tony had with flying, he had no idea how to fly with only one jet. So, he crash landed.

Right into a tree; head first. And everything went black for Tony Stark.

Rhodey was getting tired. It was late and he had at least 3 more trips (6 if you count going there and back.) He was glad Tony over bought with the food and that they brought big blankets, because he needed sleep and didn't want to fall asleep while holding someone. That wouldn't be good. At all. Again when he got close enough to the island the darts hit him but it was nothing fatal. And he landed safely not knowing that his friend wasn't as lucky.

"So who's next? This is my last trip before stay here the night and we go again in the morning." Rhodey said enthusiastically.

They all were screaming 'ME!' and Rhodey grabbed the remaining Girl and the last old man. It only seemed fair.

So he went there and back and literally fell back and groaned. Man was he tired. He didn't even bother at what time it was and called Pepper. Who answered with a groggy 'Hello?'

"Hi Pepper we may be a bit late tomorrow. I'm pretty much dead on my feet."

"What about Tony?" She said with a yawn. It was also very tiring to watch over a crabby baby. He wasn't crabby at first but she sure was later on.

"Tony? I don't know. We kinda went our own speeds. The thing that kept sinking any attempts at saving the people was dart like things. Tony was a bit off on the dodging-"

"Is he alright?" She said with worry.

"Yeah he was just a bit slow is all."

But something then came into his mind. If Tony was taking his two people every time he came back, there shouldn't be any more people. If he had his math right. But he still had 3 people who were now munching on something. They all had their own blanket.

"Pepper I actually change my mind." He began not sure at how to say it.

"About what?" She asked as she yawned.

"I don't know where Tony is. I don't think he's taking people back. He should be."

This woke her up. "Ohmigod! You have to find him! I knew I should have been there!"

"Okay Pepper I have to ask you to go to the armory."

"Okay I'm on it!" Then she hung up and snuck out of her house and ran as fast as her legs could carry her to the lab.

Rhodey in panic woke up the now sleeping people. "Do you know where Iron man is?"

They shook their head and one man said, "We last saw him trying to avoid those darts thing's and flew to the other side of the island. We haven't seen him since."

"Thanks" And with that he flew to the other side in hope that he would find his friend and he was just fine. But was majorly disappointed when he couldn't find him anywhere. He tried calling him on the con systems but their was no reply.

(With Pepper)

She rounded the corner and ran into a person that was walking the corner in the opposite direction. She quickly helped him up and said sorry before returning to her sprint. She had to get there as fast as she could. She didn't know why but she just had to.

She was worried. More than she was when she already knew what happened. It's always worse when you don't know what it is that could be hurting Tony. Or Rhodey. She hated it when they got in danger and she wasn't there to do anything about it. And when she saw the Armory she smiled in relief that it wasn't too far.

She would have taken a cab if she wasn't in such a hurry to get out of the house. She didn't even bother to grab any money. So she just sprinted even faster. It was good to know that she could run fast. That could help when she was a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent.

As she entered the armory she called Rhodey back. He didn't answer. She even tried calling Tony but with absolutely no luck. This was just her day. First she can't be where the action was at, then she was with a crabby baby (Which she didn't mind it was just stressful.), then she couldn't get a hold of Tony. He may be in trouble. Even worse. He could be hurt. And badly. What if his heart monitor gave out?

She sat in the controller chair and looked to where the Iron man armor should've been and it was in a small crater that Tony must have made. A tree was fallen down and there laid the armor half way under the tree. He had a huge dent in his helmet.

She remembered earlier that day when Tony said that the armor wasn't as strong but it had to be that way in order to be waterproof. So it was a weaker metal than the usual stuff. That made her worry. Really he should have just sent her. She could wear the stronger armor and not have to worry about getting a heart monitor wet.

She looked to see if he was conscious on the internal camera that was luckily still intact. Though it was a bit red visioned. Now she was really worried. That was blood. His eyes were closed and blood was dry and fresh. His heart was still beating but slowly because he wasn't awake.

She quickly redialed Rhodey praying that he would answer this time.

(With Rhodey)

He began to search the trees for his missing friend. He got a call from Pepper but ignored it because he didn't want to deal with any yelling that she may do. But when she called back minutes later he answered hoping that it had something to do with Tony.

"Pepper! Did you find anything?"

"Yes.. I did..." She said and took a deep breath. "He's hurt. His heart is fine but he must have hit his head really bad. He probably crash landed and it was into a tree. It left a large dent in the armor. He's some where to the left of the island." Then as the words escaped her mouth she let out a soft sob. "Rhodey there was blood. He's not awake!"

"Don't worry Pepper. Tony will be fine. I know it. He has to be." He said half to Pepper and half to himself.

He found him and wish it had been a better sight. It would be better if it was just a sand crater. It was worse when there was a tree in the way and on top of him. As he switched angles and went by his head to pull him out he noticed the dent and it wasn't pretty.

Rhodey had him slung over his shoulder when he flew off to land after he told them that he'd be back. He couldn't just leave them so. He hid Tony in a tree. Rhodey was so tired that he wasn't thinking straight. If he was than Tony would be at a hospital but no. He wasn't thinking right. Neither was Pepper who didn't speak up about it.

He went back and dared take them back all at once and luckily nobody got hurt. Sure, they would be sore but who said they were hurt. He found Tony and undid both of their armor and called 911. They came at lightning speed. Well, not literally.

Rhodey rode in the ambulance with him and they worked intensely on his head to stop the bleeding and cover it up. Any Rhodey just prayed that his friend would be fine as they said he was in a coma. _So that was why he wouldn't wake up..._

Rhodey held Tony's hand all the way to the hospital wanting to give his friend some faith that he knew he'd be alright.


	2. Don't worry it's just a minor bump

**Yay! I already updated****! It happened all so fast! You know i thought it take forever even with me being on Spring break. But sadly this will be my last update in ages on this story. But by Monday ****or Tuesday i should have it updated or the other story. i'm not sure which one. But just a fair warning. THANKS for all the reviews and now please enjoy. ****BEFORE you begin please understand that This chapter isn't the best but it's pretty much how They felt while Tony was in his coma. But he does wake up...at one point so dont hate me. im not exact proud of this chapter but ****i thought this is what the story needed to get started... So READ!**

It was at the hospital late at night and Rhodey still hadn't Told his mother. The doctors never told her yet. They were letting Rhodey choose the best time. But Rhodey's best time was different than his mom's best time. But he didn't care. He watched the the monitor that held Tony's heart beat on it. He knew it wasn't gonna fail or anything, but it calmed him to know that his friend was alive. He hit his head pretty hard and was lucky that he didn't hit it any harder. The doctors say if he did hit it harder, than he'd be dead right now.

It was about 7 o'clock at night and Pepper came rushing in. She would've come sooner, but her dad saw that she wasn't home and called her and demanded she went home. She needed the rest anyways so she went willingly. Only partly willingly she only wished that she didn't and that she went straight to the hospital. But no she decided to sleep it off hoping it was all a dream.

Pepper instantly after she saw Tony laying on the bed, in his coma, with bandages wrapped around his head that were leaking a bit of blood but not to much, ran to him and held his hand. They had already given him a blood transfusion. He didn't need a lot but still it made him more healthy.

Reporters wanted to share it on the news, but Rhodey and Pepper refused angrily. They would not let his condition be share to all of New York. Not a chance.

"I hope he'll be alright." Pepper mumbled to herself, but loud enough for Rhodey to hear.

"He'll be fine. Just how am I gonna tell my mom this? I have to tell her at one point. We have school soon. Soon as in tomorrow!" Rhodey said in slight panic.

"If you want I could tell her." Pepper suggested quietly.

"No I will. I just don't know what I'll say. I can't just say Tony's Iron Man and while saving some people he hit his head! She'd know who we are!"

"Fine just say that you two were rock climbing or riding bikes or even a car crash!" Pepper said.

"That's what we said last time. She hardly believed it then. I really don't think car crash would work. So I guess it seems probably to hit his head that hear while rock climbing..." he trailed off

With a deep breath and a sigh he dialed his mom's phone. It rang once. Twice. Three times and half of a fourth time before she answered. "Hello?"

"Mom Tony's hurt-" Rhodey began but was interrupted.

"_What Happened!"_

"We were uh... rock climbing and the line broke on Tony and he fell and hit his head!" He lied.

"What were you doing rock climbing? Where were you guys?"

He had to think a minute before he took another deep breath and began, "I saw it and challenged him to see who could get up there the quickest and his line must have been unstable or something! It snapped and he wasn't able to grab hold of anything before he hit the ground head first. He was up pretty high. I got him to the hospital as soon as I could."

"So your telling me you were rock climbing in the middle of the night or did this happen yesterday after you left?" Roberta asked suspiciously.

"It was about 4 o'clock yesterday." He said it a bit to quick and didn't realize they left at 5 not 4.

_Crap! _ He was in trouble! He had no idea what to do. He looked over at Pepper for help but she only shrugged.

"But you were here at 4..." Roberta said.

"Yeah I meant 6. Sorry."

Across the line on Roberta's side of the call she shook her head. She could just never get the three to say the truth. First about when Tony had his so called 'Car crash' and a few other times. And now its 'rock climbing'. She wished she would find out what their big secret is that is getting Tony so hurt all the time. Or what it is that causes him to get no sleep. But she knew she wasn't getting it out of him now.

"Where are you?" She asked in defeat.

"Hospital. Same one. Stark international one." Rhodey said in a rush and hung up.

Instantly she got in her car, called herself off of work, and headed to the hospital. She had to get there to see her son and adoptive son. She knew Pepper would be there. So when she got out she went up to the front desk of the medial part of the place she asked where a Tony Stark may be.

* * *

><p>(With Rhodey)<p>

He was pacing once again. He must like it or something, but he was thinking hard. And that was no good because when he thought you never knew what he was thinking about.

He was just turning around when Roberta came in sounding out of breath. "The doctor said he was in a coma! Is he alright?"

"Yeah he should be..." Pepper said quietly.

Roberta walked up to her and rubbed her back. "I know how much you care for Tony. And I know it's hard but you got to know that he will be fine. Forget what I said there. I really think Tony will be fine. Its just the fact that he isn't awake is what is making you worry isn't it?"

Pepper nods not sure what else to do.

"Yep he'll be alright." Rhodey said.

The doctor's came in and said that they had to go now while they worked on his head more. It took a bit of persuasion, but they got out of the room fast enough. And Roberta drove the two to their own homes. When they got to their house Roberta practically dragged Rhodey into the house and sat him down on the couch.

"Truth now."

"Mom I told you we were rock climbing!" He lied again.

"How stupid do you think I am?"

"I don't think your stupid! Plus the truth is best if it comes from Tony. It's not mine to share. Well it kinda is but mainly it's Tony's so when he wakes up you can ask him." He said in defeat.

She smiled at the confession. But frowned on the inside. She'd have to wait to get the truth for who knows how long. But the truth is a truth and it may have to wait, but yeah. She let him go to his room to probably do his homework that he still hadn't finished. And she just went to making lunch and thinking about what the truth may be. It would most likely explain the other lies.

Rhodey was doing his homework. It was almost impossible to concentrate on it when all you could think about was Tony being in a coma and not knowing that he'd have to blow his secret. Rhodey wished Tony would just say it and hoped that his mom took it well. It would be no fun if she took it hard. They couldn't afford it.

So he worked extra long and then left his room for lunch. He knew they skipped breakfast but they missed it visiting Tony. So after lunch he was told to clean his room. His mom tried to get him so he wasn't thinking of Tony so she kept him busy. VERY busy. Laundry, dishes, room, kitchen table. Even Tony's room. It wasn't that messy but still it wasn't his room. And it only made him worry more.

It was night time by the time he was done with all the chores his mom had set up for him. It was dinner and then they'd go check on Tony. So after they ate they got ready for going to the hospital. Once they were they headed off and Rhodey called Pepper.

"Hey Rhodey what are you doing now that you don't have Tony to bug." She said mostly trying to cheer herself up.

"Going to visit Tony." He answered with a small smile playing at his face.

"Oh I already visited him like 5 times I got pushed out. They said I couldn't go back til tomorrow. They also said it was to much stress on me if I kept worrying. So yeah... Heh he." On her end she blushed.

"Jeez. Well I gotta go we're already there." Rhodey said with a smile.

"Okay! BYE!" She said with a loud laugh and then she said, "Oops I think I disturbed my dads sleep so yeah bye!"

Rhodey shook his head with silent laughter and was glad for something to laugh about. Roberta and Rhodey both walked right into the medical center that Tony was in and straight to his room. He was still in his coma. But on the good side his head finally stopped bleeding and now was all stitched up. His heart beat was a bit faster.

The two smiled with glee and began to chit chat about small things such as school and a bit about the secret. She was told the lab was where it was located and worked on, she knew part of it but didn't know it, and that it saved lives. She was more than happy to get hints to what it was but upset that it made her more curious.

After they both wished Tony a goodnight and get well. They walked back to the car and set their journey home. It wasn't long before they got home and Rhodey called Pepper and shared the news of Tony getting a bit better and she sounded so relieved when he said that the bleeding stopped. It meant that there would be no more heart transfusions. Not that it was bad that someone was actually giving blood for him, but it meant he had enough blood to be healthy.

After they ate a nice treat that was made by Roberta, they both got prepared for bed. Rhodey before going to bed made sure Tony's bed was made. For some reason he felt it was rude to leave his bed all messy and unmade. So after that was done he snuggled up into his bed and fell into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

><p>Pepper didn't sleep well she kept waking up. With school tomorrow she had to try as hard as she could to go to sleep, but all of her attempts were useless. She just woke up to soon. But she tried even harder though she knew it wouldn't work. She was just glad that Tony was alright but she couldn't help but think that it wasn't. But she got like this every time he got hurt. She panicked and her panic causes her to be restless.<p>

But finally it came morning and her dad had already set off to work. So she took the chance of him not being there and grabbed a soda. Just to wake up a bit. She ate her breakfast and brushed her teeth after taking a quick shower. She didn't want to be smelly at school. With all the worrying about Tony she forgot her shower yesterday. Ew...

It was now time for school and she met up with Rhodey. He looked a lot better than she probably did. He must have gotten some sleep. Much more than her. She was jealous of his ability to sleep through lots of things. He wasn't as bad as Tony by a long shot, but still he could sleep if he wanted to.

"So you sleep well?" She blurted.

"Yep. Looking forward to today would do that to ya." Rhodey replied a bit to happily for Pepper.

"I didn't get much sleep. I was so worried about Tony that I couldn't bring myself to sleep. Ugh I just hate restless nights. They aggravate me. All they do is make you more and more tired and in my opinion they suck..." She crossed her arms in pout.

Rhodey sighed. "Pepper. Tony will be fine. He just hit his head. That's all. The doctor said he should be just fine." He said slowly as if she couldn't understand him.

"I know! It's not me! It's just my body's reaction to the stress. I really wish he is alright. I can't help but think something will go wrong..." she trailed off sadly.

Rhodey rubbed his temples as they entered the school. They went to Rhodey's locker first and then Pepper's. A few people asked where Tony was but most didn't care. Well he was gone an awful lot and what's the difference between today and then? They talked a bit and head to class as the warning bell rang.

"Tony Stark here?" The teacher asked as he got to the end of the attendance list.

"He's in a coma..." Pepper blurted sadly. She was so tired she didn't even bother hiding it. If she had gotten some sleep than maybe she would have just said he was gone. But no she just had to have no sleep.

The class stared at her in shock and worry. They may have thought he was a rich jerk, but they still cared if he was hurt or not. They hardly even knew him. But still they stared wide eyed at the sleepy red head.

"What happened?" The teacher asked.

She sighed. _It isn't worth the lie._ "Hit his head. Pretty bad."

"Well I hope he gets well." The teacher said and said nothing more on the matter. He just continued to do attendance.

_At least I didn't say that it was Iron man that hit his head. That would have given him away in some way. _A tap was at her shoulder and she and when she turned around to see who it was, it was Rhodey and he passed he a note.

It read: _Why'd you say that. I'm not mad, but why? _

I replied: _Just so tired. Just be happy I didn't give away his identity. _I waited for the teacher to look away and passed it back.

I never saw the note again. He must not have had anything to say about it. So she put her full attention to the lesson and The day went by slowly. As did her night.

* * *

><p>They visited Tony, but there was nothing to report. No change. At least it didn't get worse. Then that would really stress Pepper out. And it would have gotten to Rhodey too. Which couldn't be good if Rhodey was what was keeping Pepper sane. She would lose her marbles if he lost it to.<p>

The next few days went by the same. To be exact it was 6 days later. It was all til the day the doctors called like they did every day, but this time was different. They had new news that lifted Pepper's downed spirits. Tony woke up.

This is how the phone call went. For the Rhodes.

"Hello?" Mrs. Rhodes asked.

"This is Dr. Yinsen. Is this Mrs. Rhodes speaking?" Yinsen said

"Yes it is. Is Tony awake?" She asked with hope in her voice. She always asked that everyday.

"I'd be glad to say that he is!" He said with a smile.

Her eyes widened and she pulled away from the phone yelling, "Rhodey!" She went back to the phone and said, "How is he?"

"Oh he's fine. Nothing seems wrong he says he has a really bad headache but nothing serious." There was something in his voice that sounded off. Not like in getting sick and your voice changes a bit. But like he was hiding something. Roberta instantly knew that tone. It was always in her two boys voice when they lied to her. Even in Pepper's. But she let that pass. The only thing that mattered was that he was awake. Not still stuck in that stubborn coma.

Rhodey came running into the room because he knew what his mom was calling him for. Tony woke up. She had said that she'd tell him as soon as possible. And That call was shortly after the phone rang. It just has to be about Tony waking up!

"Okay we'll be right there." Roberta said.

"He may be asleep when you get here so yeah. Thanks bye." Yinsen said.

Why was he saying thanks? She let it pass and rushed to get her purse and motioned for Rhodey to get his shoes on. It was fall, but it was still warm enough not to need a coat on. And it was midday on Sunday.

"Is it Tony? Is he awake." Rhodey asked.

"Yes he is. But I don't know how he is really. The doctor said he'd be fine but there was something in his voice that makes me cautious. But don't worry. I'm sure it's nothing serious."

This made Rhodey think. How can he be fine but not fine? Well he decided to listen to his mother's words. It's best not to argue with her. So he got his shoes on and grabbed a sweater just in case and as always called Pepper.

"Hello?" Pepper's voice sounded through the phone.

"Pepper this is the best day ever!" Rhodey cried out happily.

"Is this another one of your plans to cheer me up. Cause it wont work Rhodey. You should know that by now." She said grumpily.

"No. Tony is awake!" He left out the part where there might be something wrong. He did not what so ever want to worry her anymore than she already was.

"He is!" She screeched over the phone and it made Rhodey flinch on his end.

"Yes! Jeez Pepper quiet down. Your gonna wake up the people in China!"

"Yeah right. They are harder sleeper's than Tony."

Rhodey had to laugh at that. At least she was now happy and not her gloomy self. The entire 8 days that Tony was in his coma she had been nothing but a worry wort. Luckily The thing she needed was to find out that Tony was going to wake up. Or that he _had _woken up. So now Rhodey was happy.

"Okay we're going to meet him right now."

"Meet you there!" She said. "I bet you I'll beat you there!"

"Your on!"

With that they hung up and Rhodey ran into the car waiting for his mom to come. Thankfully for Rhodey his mom was quick. He didn't want to be rude to his mom and just run off so he just went with her. But he knew that he'd lose that race of theirs. Only because he was being nice. Otherwise he so would have beat her.

But when he got there she wasn't there yet. She came only a minute afterwords. They rushed their way to see their friend. They were in such a rush it took them a minute to realize that Tony was just walking back into his room. But they just assumed that he went to the bathroom and hadn't seen them. So they walked into the room to a waiting Yinsen and Tony who was looking into the flashlight that was being flashed in his eyes. It reminded me of the last time he was here.

"Tony stay calm. these are your friends." Yinsen said.

Tony slid himself off the bed and looked at them with confusion. The doctor continued. "James Rhodes. And Patricia Potts. Rhodey and Pepper."

Tony only blinked. "And I'm Tony... Stark. Right?"

**Dun dun dun! Just kidding. Boring chapter better one coming up next week! ** **Yes i gave Tony Amnesia but you already knew that. He remembers nothing before he woke up. I am not a doctor and all the reading i did on it confused me half to death so please dont hate me if somethings on his amnesia isn't really what amnesia is. I am no doctor what so ever. so please READ AND REVIEW! **


	3. lets see what you remember

_**GUESS WHAT! I am back BEFORE i said i was going to be so YAY! This chapter may be good or boring, but it's pretty much just a test on his memory and his return to the real life. okay i know what i said about him not remembering anything before the incident, but i decided to let him have bits and pieces and he always studies a person that he met once again to see if he remembers anything. but please read. **_

"What's wrong? You said he would be fine. Fine is not losing his memory. That's not fine!" Roberta half shouted at Dr. Yinsen.

He held his hands up in surrender cause Roberta could be pretty scary when she's mad. "I thought it make your reaction a bit easier. I didn't want to cause a panic!"

"Your worried about _Panic!_ When you only made the reaction worse by not telling me in the first place!" She now was shouting.

Rhodey and Pepper would have continued to listen to the two adults fight but it was no fun if Tony was right there confused at who they all were. And not able to do anything to calm the two down. Although Rhodey was pretty good at that Roberta wouldn't calm down at a situation like this. So he just let the fight go on and stood over by Tony as he sat down rubbing his head.

"So your Pepper and he's Rhodey?" He asked as he pointed to each of them as he said their names.

They both nodded. "Yes. So you really don't remember us? Or are you just playing? Because if you are I swear I will-" Pepper ranted but was cut off by Rhodey.

"Calm down Pepper!" He snapped. He turned to Tony who was leaning away from Pepper. "Sorry she is just a bit cautious cause you do mess with her a lot."

"I do?" He asks

"Well some times you do." Rhodey said with a smile and leaned over and whispered quietly so Pepper couldn't hear, "Only cause you two are in love..." He chuckled as Tony's eyes widened and turned to Pepper. Just staring at her as if trying to find what he must have loved about her.

"Really? Then why did you whisper it to me. Wouldn't she already know?" Tony asked once he got a good look at her.

"Yes but you haven't admitted it yet. Neither of you have." Rhodey said with a smile.

"Hey I am here too! What are you two talking about and was it about me? If it was I'll be madder than ever! So what is it? _Was it about me?_" Pepper demanded.

"Yes." "No" The two said together. Tony said yes. Rhodey said no.

Her eyes widened, but not of anger. It was because she never thought she'd live a day that Tony telling the honest truth. He does tell the truth to her a lot, but not when she was mad or anything. Normally he lied so she wouldn't be mad. But she normally let him by for some reason...

"What was it?" She asked Tony in hopes that he'll tell the truth.

Tony already liked that he had her for a friend that he was prepared to tell the truth, but just as he opened he mouth to say it, Rhodey's hand smacked on her mouth before on word could escape his mouth.

"We were just talking about what you are like..." He lied somehow knowing that Tony was going to tell the truth. Then Rhodey would never see the daylights again. Or something like that. Not really but Pepper would be so mad if she knew what they were talking about.

"I want it from Tony not you Rhodey. So let him speak!" Pepper commanded.

Rhodey sighed and removed his hand from Tony's mouth. He was thinking about convincing him not to tell the truth but knew that it was not nice to mess with someones mind when they had just lost their memory. Really when he said that the two were in love was the truth but he shouldn't have said that. At least not when Pepper was right there, but he couldn't help it.

"Rhodey was saying that...you and I were in love, but don't worry I don't remember anything so if it's the truth than so be it, but if not then sorry." Tony said. It wasn't what he meant to say but it kinda slipped.

She blushed in both anger and embarrassment. "RHODEY! Why on EARTH would you say that?" She shouted. Which had stopped the adults arguing and got their attention turned to the teens. They remained quiet to see what was going on before they interrupted.

"Pepper calm down. He didn't take it seriously. Technically he said that he loves you or at least doesn't mind if he was. Which to me is the same thing." Rhodey said.

"So what if he didn't take it so calmly and reacted different? You just messed with his mind! Like it hasn't been messed up enough." Pepper responded with an angry scold.

"Both of you calm down." Some one yelled and they all turned their heads to see who it was that yelled. It was Tony.

"Tony you don't need to yell. It's hard on your head." The doctor said.

Tony shook his head stubbornly. _Still as stubborn as ever._ Roberta thought. "I'm fine. Just it was hard on my head with them both yelling in my ears."

The two teens looked down then at Tony. He seems the same with the stubbornness, but different because he was telling the truth. He was also more open with the others than usual. They all just stared at Tony cause they knew his usual actions and these were a bit off. But then again he did lose his memory and didn't know much of how he was.

"I am going to ask that you guys step out as I run a few tests on him really quick to see how much of his memory that he lost. I may require help from the three of you, but not right now." Yinsen said.

"Okay." Roberta said to the doctor and then to Rhodey and Pepper. "Come on guys. We'll see him soon enough."

Tony wished they could stay and tell him more about himself and their selves, but he did know that doctors were also stubborn and would give in to it. So he went along with the few tests that the doctor had in mind.

There was lots and lots of questions.

"Tony when were you born?"

"August 16th."

"Good. How old are you?"

"17"

"Good. Who's your mom and dad?"

He had think about that one. He knew his father's name, but his mom... it was like on the tip of his tongue but it wouldn't come to him. "Howard, but I don't know who my mom is..."

Yinsen sighed. "Do you know what happened to your dad?"

"No. I know he died at some point..." He was a bit saddened not to have a dad. But he had to have a mother. Right?

"Yes it was a plane crash. You were there too. Do you remember?"

Tony shook his head. His head was beginning to hurt and he heard a loud buzzing sound that made him jump almost off the bed. He looked to see what it was when he came to the watch on his wrist. It was spinning and a screen showed up saying: 1 hour. The doctor came over and pressed a red button on his watch and it became quiet in the room again.

"What that is, is the reminder watch that tells you when you need to recharge your heart monitor. In 1 hour so we need to hurry up."

"I have a heart monitor?" Tony asked and looked down. He was back into his regular close but he remembered seeing something on his chest and had no idea what it was but just thought that it was something that would help him recover from the head injury the doctor said he got.

"Yes. So I need you to take this and answer them. Because you are a genius and it would be terrible if you lost that part of you." The doctor said while handing him a sheet of paper that he pulled off of a table.

Tony looked at it and grabbed the pencil that was now being handed to him. He used a desk and he did remember the answers to the questions. It made him a bit happier that he could remember a bit of stuff. Or was still a genius. But if he was a genius then how come he couldn't even remember his own mom or that he was in a car crash?

When he was done he gave it to the doctor as if he was in school. And the doctors face lit up and smiled. "All right. At least according to this sheet. So you still have the genius in you but not the memories. Next I want you to say everything you know about James Rhodes. Or Rhodey."

He left before Tony could start because he never said that it was going to be _to_ Rhodey but just about him. But he came back with Rhodey who was smiling because he got to see all that Tony knew about him.

"Okay Tony begin." Yinsen said.

Tony stared at Rhodey for a few minutes not remembering anything. At all. His head was increasing in pain and it felt as if time stopped. For all of them as they anticipated on his words. That didn't come for a few minutes. They were worried that something may be wrong with him but he answered finally.

"Your my most trusted friend but you like to mess with me and that's it." He said while looking around the room and taking in the details. Like the table with some tools on it and the desk with the computer on it or the arrangement of chairs along the wall. But he still couldn't distract himself from the sadness that came when he couldn't even remember his closest friend.

He couldn't even remember how he lost his memory. Not even a smudge of what he was doing before it happened—what ever it was—and that was the most of it. He could remember the little things or at least most of the little things. He could not for the life of himself remember what happened to his mother, or if he had any hobbies he should know about.

"Tony do you think you could do the same with Pepper?" Yinsen asked worriedly. He had noticed Tony's face go from confusion to a bit of gloominess.

"Yes. I'll be fine." He said despite his real feelings.

"Okay. I'll have to have you, young man, trade places with pepper."

Rhodey nodded knowing it was him being talked to and stepped out side the door with Dr. Yinsen. He sat beside his mom and sighed. He was upset that Tony hadn't remembered him more. But on the bright side he knew that he was his most trusted friend so nothing too bad. At least he remembered something.

"Pepper if you would come and see him now. We have to hurry cause we have no charger here for his heart and he needs to charge soon." Yinsen said as he stepped aside for Pepper to walk in on her own quick pace.

She sat on a chair that had been pulled out in front of Tony previously for Rhodey. Tony wasn't looking at her at all. In fact he wasn't even looking at the door when it opened again to let his next friend come in. He was trying to remember his mom. Or something. He just had to at least remember something other than the little things.

"Tony?" Pepper asked the lightness in her tone made him look up and into her eyes. It was the softest tone he heard since he woke up. Not the first calm one, but the softest. It didn't seem as if she was wanting him to get his memory back but to make sure he was okay. It was... different.

"One sec." He said as he began his staring again as he did with Rhodey.

She fidgeted at his stare. She wasn't used to him looking at her for too long. He always looked away or someone interrupted. But now he was actually taking his time to look at her. Only to see what he remembered of her.

He watched her intently. In a different situation it would seem stalker-like but this was different. He tried to remember anything that might be small since that was all he could remember. But nothing came. Just more of a headache and tensing of his bones and muscles. The doctor noticed his tense up but knew if he wanted to get any farther in getting his tests done to see just what he remembered. Tony's eyes seemed to be flying over her body in a flash to remember something. He blinked when he noticed something about the bag she held around her shoulder.

_What is that? Or why does it hold interest to me? Its just a bag? _His hand reached out to it and before she could do anything, he grabbed it and turned it. He looked at the design on it. Some how he remembered seeing it some where. _But where?_

He continued to stare at it when Pepper moved in her discomfort in the chair caused Tony to come to reality and drop the bag. "No nothing. Just thought the bag had something that would help..."

Pepper's whole posture dropped in disappointment. He had to remember something! One little thing. He took an intense interest in her bag and seemed pulled into a daze of some sort but was instantly pulled back when she moved. _Why did I have to move! He could have remembered something!_ She wanted to smack herself for it, but left even without being told and told Roberta to go in.

She sat down as Roberta got up and made her way in the room. She was close to tears. But she held them in knowing it wasn't the time to cry. It wasn't like her to do that unless Tony was seriously hurt or something. But he was fine. Just some memory lose. Right?

"What happened?" Rhodey asked who noticed the sorrow in her eyes.

"He couldn't remember one thing about me. NOT ONE!" Then she heaved out a sob. "He just stared at me and looked at my bag."

"Hey it's alright we don't even know if it's permanent. And he only remembered one thing about me so now you know he doesn't remember much of anyone." Rhodey said in attempt to calm her down.

She did but she was just waiting for Roberta to be done and they could go home with Tony and talk to him more.

* * *

><p>(In with Roberta)<p>

Again Tony was staring at every little detail. Though he knew he wouldn't catch anything, he hoped for luck. But his headache was increasing to a migraine, but he did his best to ignore it. He focused on her face cause he was catching something. Something about her made him calm. Safe.

But something familiar was in her face and he couldn't lay a finger on it. He rested his hand on his temple and tilted his head over as if that would help. And it did. Despite the pain, he shot his head up and smiled. It hit him hard. But he was almost positive that what he came up with was true. It just had to be.

"What is it Tony?" Both Roberta and Dr. Yinsen asked.

"Umm... Your Rhodey's mom! And umm... I've been to your house a lot. Right?" He said with glee.

Yinsen whispered something to Roberta that was lost to Tony's ears. Her expression changed from happiness to sadness and worry then to determination. "Yes you stay over at my house a lot. Most of the time that it. I was really close friends to your dad."

Tony's smile weakened to the point it was hardly there. He wished his dad was here. And his mom. But he couldn't even remember her so he just let it go. Though he felt on the verge of tears and didn't care if they came or not but they didn't. He couldn't cry he was a bit to joyed to do that.

The loud buzzing went off again and this time it was Roberta that reached over and pressed the button to keep it quiet after she read it. "We better get going. You need to charge up. 10 minutes. At least we don't live to far..."

She couldn't stop thinking of what to do or say when they got to their house. He had his own room in her house and he'd be wondering why. The doctor said he couldn't remember anything on his mom. He wouldn't know that she was dead. That she had been dead since he was 6. He couldn't go home to his room. He was stuck at their house. But at some point they'd have to tell him. Or he'd have to figure it out soon enough.

The doctor wished them a farewell and the two left. With Tony slightly behind Roberta. They stepped out a motioned for the other teens to follow as they were in a rush. Even though the others hadn't been told what's wrong they followed. Their was nothing really wrong just that Tony needed to recharge. That was all. But fast. They signed out of the hospital as quick as they could.

They got into the car and any attempt to chat failed cause Tony never answered them. He just stared at the window trying pick up something. But nothing came to him. It all flew passed his shoulders or sunk right through him to fast to think it was anything important.

But something was making him sore. As is he was run down. Or completely exhausted. It was his heart monitor running low on charge. But he didn't even remember having a heart monitor in the first place and didn't know what would happen if it's charge died. So he stopped trying to remember stuff and focused on staying awake.

They finally got home and they struggled to get in the house when Tony was having a hard time walking. It wasn't all because he was low on charge. It was also his headache getting worse and he just wished for sleep. Not as in death but sleep so the next day could come.

They got into Tony's room and gave him the charger and since he had no idea how it worked he just held it before asking for help and Pepper lifted his shirt and Rhodey plugged it in and let it charge up. They left Tony alone to his thoughts and instantly he laid down on the bed that was partially under the shelves in the room. Then he closed his eyes with a sigh.

* * *

><p>The next morning when he woke up he felt a whole lot better. He got up and ate and took a shower, after Rhodey put on some special thing over the blue circle heart monitor. Then even though Roberta said he didn't have to, he went to school.<p>

There was a lot of stares and some smiles and sighs in relief. The teachers were glad that he was back and was saddened to know that he lost his memory. But they worked around it. They helped him even though he didn't need it.

It was the end of the third hour when he was at his locker when he heard a loud "STARK!"

He turned in confusion to who was yelling his name and came to see a big muscular teen running at him. He backed away but it wasn't enough to evade the lung crushing hug that he was given.

When he was let down stared at him much like he did in the hospital, but couldn't catch anything so he turned to Rhodey.

"Tony that's Happy. He's not the smartest. You normally did his homework when he helped you get out of trouble or test one of your new inventions." Rhodey said.

Tony remembered talking about him making small gadgets or inventions and was one of the riches teens in New York.

"Happy be easy on him. He doesn't remember you. At all." Rhodey said now to Happy.

The clicking of shoes got closer as a blond girl came up with both a smile and a look of annoyance in Happy. She came up and hugged Tony and Tony frowned slightly. _Who is she?_

Rhodey lightly pulled her away and cast a worried look at Tony who seemed to be even more confused at meeting her than Happy. She now was annoyed at Rhodey. She didn't like that Rhodey took it to himself to talk to everybody for Tony. He could speak for himself.

"Sorry Whitney. He lost his memory. Doesn't have a clue to who you are." He said when he saw her face go from happy to mad. He turned to Tony. "This is Whitney. Your childhood friend."

Tony nodded as the warning bell rang and the group went to class. The rest of the day was spent normal. Except with every moment of free time they told Tony everything they could on everyone and the events of his life. Except about Iron man they thought that could wait. They told him about him in hope it would bring something back, but nothing happened.

They went home continuing the stories and info. But nothing seemed to get to him. He seemed to pause when they brought up Stark international. He knew it was his dad's company. But didn't know it was a weapons place. He still felt strong about weapons and he was mad when he found out that his dad made a company for weapons. But calmed down when he was told that it was switched over to just things that could help out. But was tipped over when he heard that Obadiah Stane turned it into a weapons industry again.

They got home and They just hung out at the house. They weren't ready for the armory quite yet. But Rhodey did leave when the alarms for enemy energy went off and left Tony alone with Pepper and Roberta. Who ate lunch and chit chatted about school that day. Tony was actually relaxing but still focusing hard. But still he finally relaxed glad that he was getting caught up and was able to catch the little things.

But other than the headaches he was fine and all day he continued to listen to the three.

_**So there is the chapter and i hoped it was better than the last one. But according to the reviews im doing a good job and thats why i keep updating. So hopefully i will have another one soon. Thanks and READ and REVIEW!**_


	4. Flashback

**Okay this one was difficult cause it has some feelings in it and i'm terrible at writing feelings without making the character look like their not them selves, but i decided that i try my best and i hope you enjoy. There is a flashback but i don't know how i did. I wanted it to be short but not super short but it was hard to create feeling or anything...but i'll shut up and say no more so...Enjoy! **

It was a few days after the first day back to school and they were just heading home. They—as in all three, Pepper, Rhodey, and Tony—were walking through town on their way to Rhodey's house. Where Tony was told he was living while his mother was away. They decided it was best to let him find out on his own. If he was told to soon he may think that they were trying to make his life with no memory miserable. In there theory.

Once they got home they hung out in the living room. Again they weren't trying to rush anything with going to the lab. That was for another day. So they just hung out in the house telling stories. Tony was healing from the head injury but still didn't remember a thing. It was as if the world wanted him to forget and to face the world as a whole new person that told the truth and wasn't Iron Man.

The stitches he got already dissolved and all that was left was a small bump and a bruise. He didn't get the constant headaches anymore when he thought to hard and he didn't remember much more than he had before.

They laughed when Pepper was done telling her story on how her cousin was evil and wanted to take over the world. They knew it wasn't real but the story was funny anyways. "Babies are evil and don't you forget it."

Rhodey nodded and turned to Tony who was staring into space. He waved his hand in front of his face and frowned. He was worried that he was remembering something bad. Or was it just that he was tired? He sighed in relief when he shook his head and looked back at Rhodey.

"Sorry just thinking again." He said with a small smile. He was telling the truth. He was thinking. Again he was trying to remember something. He tried lots of things. Nothing he tried worked. And Ever since he got back from the hospital, he was at Rhodey's house. His mom was still on her little 'Business trip' and wouldn't be back for quite awhile.

"So what are we gonna do now?" Tony asked eager to leave the house for once. They hadn't left the house for two days now and Tony was feeling a bit stuffy.

"I don't know... I guess we could go see a movie or something." Rhodey suggested.

Tony nodded in agreement. Of course he remembered movies. "Sounds cool."

Pepper was hesitant but she went with the two anyways. It wasn't that she didn't want to it was just she actually wanted to show Tony the armory. But she knew better. That they weren't gonna show him it til he remembers a bit more which hopefully he will, but who knows how long that'll be. It could be a while. Or could it be...permanent?

She shook her head and ran to catch up to the boys, who were already half way there while she trailed slowly behind, lost in her own thoughts on how they could help Tony more. They told him pretty much everything. Except for that: his mom was dead, He was iron man, and how he had lost his memory. He asked a lot about that one. She wanted to answer but it was kinda hard to when every time she opened her mouth to explain, Rhodey would do anything to shut her up before she spilled the truth.

The only reason they kept that stuff away from him was because they were the biggest part of his memory. But his mom died when he was only 5 so he shouldn't remember much of it anyways, but he seems so persistent at trying to find out where his mom was. Because they all knew that she couldn't be on her 'business trip' forever and they would have to find some other reason that she was gone. But they really wanted to have him figure it out on his own.

They arrived at the movies and looked at what was playing. Only the soonest one was a scary movie. It wasn't too scary actually it wasn't even scary, but it was very suspenseful. The next movie wasn't playing til Night time. Other than this kiddy movie that was for 5 or 6 year old's.

The movie seemed good enough after they pulled out a trailer for it on Tony's phone. So they bought some tickets and decided to wait in the lobby til the movie was close to beginning and just talked about what they were excited for in the movie. Tony was just happy to be watching a movie on the big screen. Pepper was happy to be watching a movie with tons of action in it. Secretly she was just excited to be next to Tony in the theater. But she'd never share that. Rhodey was excited for seeing one of his favorite actors on screen, but he also had a secret reason. To see Pepper and Tony sitting next to each other and watching a movie together. To bad it wasn't a scary movie. Then she'd probably be clinging to Tony like no tomorrow.

Rhodey was the one that watched to clock and once it reached 1:45 he got up along with the other two. Who came with Rhodey as they bought their popcorn and candy and etc.

"Wow I am so excited! You know for a movie that just so happened to be on with no other choices, I'm glad we got this one!" Pepper said with enthusiasm.

"Yeah." The two boys said in agreement.

Just before they went in Tony's phone vibrated. He answered it in a haste. "Hello?"

He stopped and stood outside the theater room. Waiting for the answer.

"Tony? Where are you guys. One minute you guys were here then in a flash you were gone! Is everything alright." Roberta's voice said through the phone.

"Oops sorry. We got bored and went to the movies. Forgot it was your day off." Tony said and looked at the time to see if the movie was starting yet. It was in like two minutes.

"Oh okay. Just curious. I didn't want to find out that you guys were causing trouble somewhere." She said and they both said their goodbyes and Tony rushed off to find where the other teens decided to sit.

They were somewhere up top and waved at him when they saw him looking. He walked up the stairs to the row that they were sitting at and made his way to them. He sat down next to Pepper. On the other side of Pepper was Rhodey. Rhodey smiled that he was successful at getting them to sit next to each other.

The movie started and was starting at the flashback of the main character. It was when she was little and she was in a subway with her mom. They were on a train on their way somewhere. And it showed some people just standing in the hallway next to the two girls. Just standing there. Staring. The little girl stared back at the man that was looking attentively at her. Later the girls left the train and the men got off as well. Following them still watching the girl. The little girl screamed just as one man pulled out a gun and the other two spread out and were now in front of them. Soon enough the mother was dead and was left with a screeching little kid.

Tony was the only one that seemed really interested in the scene. The other two watched it and liked it but wasn't as focused as Tony was on it. He was actually leaning forward. As if trying to get closer to the screen. But as soon as the scene was over, Tony wasn't exactly watching it. He was busy concentrating on the little bit of memory that was flashing in his head...

_FLASHBACK..._

_It was a woman with dark hair. She had curly, but not too curly hair. She was standing there just waiting in front of the school. She was smiling happily as she watched her son walk out of the school from his first day there. He was running. He ran joyfully into his moms arms. _

"_Hey mommy!" The boy said._

"_Have a nice day at school, Tony?" She said while rubbing the boys brown hair. _

_He didn't like being called that. It was supposed to be Anthony. And she called him Tony, but he loved it when she called him that. But he never said anything about it. He loved his mom so much it didn't matter. He just liked that she was there for him and not always working. Like his dad did. _

"_Yea! I made a new friend and all" He said as he turned and pointed to a kid that was waiting for his parent to pick him up. _

"_That's great, honey." she said while leading him towards the home. She started to whistle a tune that she always did since Tony was born. Tony after hearing the whistle, joined in but wasn't as good. The woman, Maria, was smiling so wide that she lost her whistle and so did Tony. _

_They walked and whistled some more and they saw an open cab and waved for it to come to them. Only when it pulled over the driver walked out. Though it must have been some one else. Cause this man had all black on. But he had white shoes and a white jacket and gloves. _

_He walked out towards them and quickly, knowing who the man was, Maria rushed to grab her son and sprinted away while trying to dial the police. But just as she hit call she stumbled and the phone dropped and she had no chance at picking it up. Nobody seemed to notice or take action in the chase. As she ran the man followed with a knife. And gun. _

"_Mommy I'm scared." The little Tony said as he saw the man sprinting after them._

"_It'll be alright honey. It's just a little game." She said wishing it was true. _

_She looked around to see the man rearing up on their heels. He was getting closer and closer. SO she pushed herself harder and went even faster than she thought possible. She had to protect her son. Nothing else mattered. Just that he was safe. _

"_You can't run!" The man taunted and there was the sound of a gun shot. It was ear splitting and loud. Maria gasped and pushed her son in front of her and made sure she was covering him. It missed,but the man had more than one bullet. And the same ear splitting sound rang through the streets of New York. _

_Tony felt his mother stumble again. She tried to keep going, but the pain was unbearable. It began in her left shoulder and spread like fire through her body. The man yelled in victory and aimed his fire on the now open targeted kid. He readied his finger on the trigger and was about to shoot when a shock of electricity ran through his body and he fell down paralyzed. It was the police. _

_Tony didn't pay attention to the police or the man. Just to his mother who was slowly dying. She had tears running down her cheeks. She laying on her back staring at her son for the last time. The boy looked as lost as she was and she was the one dying. Despite the pain she smiled. "Tony everything will be alright mommy is going to be away for awhile, but I'll see you again when the time is right. Mommy loves you. Go straight to daddy."_

_She hugged him just before she went limp as the life left her body with her last breath. Tony just sat there staring at her still body. He knew that she was dead, but he wanted to believe that everything was alright though his tears proved him wrong. _

_FLASHBACK END-(__**HOPE I DID A GOOD JOB...!)**_

Someone was shaking his shoulder. There was the sound of dozens of gun shots. The sound of his name being yelled but it was as if it was being yelled through a tunnel. His vision was blurry due to his tears. Lots of shushing, but Tony had no idea who or why they were doing it. He forgot completely that they were at a movie theater and that the movie had lots of guns. But that only made it worse.

"Tony!"

"Tony! Come on!"

"Tony what wrong!"

He was hardly registering that it was his friends yelling at him. Only that he was being half carried, half dragged out of the theater room and out to the lobby. He completely shut out the rest of the world as he could only think of the gun shots and the words his mom said to him. He knew that was his mom. She even said it, well he did, but that didn't matter. Nothing did...

(Rhodey and Pepper POV 3rd person)

The movie was half finished when they noticed that they hadn't heard anything from Tony. Pepper should have already known. She had been sitting awfully close to him. It wasn't scary, but there was tons of pop outs and they always made her jump. But when she looked at him noticing that he hadn't even flinched and he hardly even moved since the movie started.

Only she found him sweating and eyes wide. His electric blue eyes were unfocused and he was trembling. If he hadn't look so scared she would have laughed that he was scared of the movie, but she realized that wasn't fear, but a distant look and sadness. It worried her and for about 5 minutes of shaking him and whispering his name and he didn't respond so she turned to Rhodey. Who climbed on the other side of Tony and did the same thing that Pepper did. With the same reaction. Nothing.

Then they began to yell. When all that failed, and all they succeeded in was making all the other people mad, they dragged him out and he hardly even helped to walk himself so they were pretty much carrying him. When they got to the lobby, they sat him down on one of the chairs. Some people came by to see what was wrong and some offered to call 911, but the two teens said that wouldn't help, but they asked for some water, cause all they had was soda. When they got the water they gently sprayed it on Tony. Careful not to get the monitor.

The only reaction was a shake of the head and the tears that were building up in his eyes spilled over his face. He blinked wildly and he began to tremble even harder. The first thing that came to Rhodey's mind was to call his mom.

"Hello?" She answered on the second ring.

"Mom somethings wrong with Tony." He said with out hesitating.

"What happened now?" She asked.

"I don't know we were watching the movie and he...he just froze. Right now he wont respond to anything. Not screaming. Not water being splashed. Nothing." Rhodey said slightly panicked. He had no idea what to do or what was wrong. But it couldn't have been good. Something had to make him be like that.

It wasn't just out of the blue...

"Rhodey listen to me. What was the movie about?" She asked.

"The beginning was about a little girl and her mother running away from some guy. He killed her mother, but left the girl. Then-"

"That's IT!" Roberta yelled through the phone causing Rhodey to flinch away from the phone.

"What?"

"That's how his mom died! It probably brought back bad memories..." She sighed. "Just bring him here. I'll tell you the full story now when you get back."

With that she hung up. Nothing more, nothing less. The only thing was, was how were they gonna get Tony out of there if he wasn't responding and could hardly walk. But he just told pepper to help him carry Tony out to get a cab. They were not going to walk all the way home like this. Not with Tony like this. Especially now. It would take ages and tons of sore muscles. Plus they'd never make it before dinner time. Once they hailed a cab they shoved Tony in and paid the driver to go quick.

"So what did Roberta say?" Pepper asked.

He told her what they talked about and she gasped. She never thought that his mom was actually _killed_ the story everywhere was that she was in a bad car crash when she was on the way to visit a friend of hers. Not that she was killed. Apparently Rhodey had no idea either. He was just as shocked as her.

"Poor Tony..." She whispered practically to herself.

The cab stopped and they stepped out after thanking the man. They dragged Tony out and met the waiting Roberta and she helped carry Tony and they laid him on the couch. They sat in silence and watched as Tony shook and saw that he was on the verge of crying. He did have the tears. The first person to move was Roberta who sat and held his hand in a mother like way. And Rubbed the tears off of his cheeks. She hated seeing him like this. She was the only person other than Howard and now Tony once again that knew the truth to how Maria Stark died. The last time she saw him like that was when Howard died in the plane crash. But even then, he was in even worse shape over his moms death.

"Tony it's okay. Everything will be alright." She said in a soft voice.

That only made things worse. Much worse. His whole body tensed up and he squeezed his eyes shut. Roberta sat there for almost an hour rubbing the back of his arm before he fell asleep. She sighed and turned to the two teens that sat on the floor and stared at their friend worriedly.

"You want to know how his mom really died?" She asked.

Slowly they nodded and took deep breaths. Prepared to find out how their best friend's mom died. The truth and not the cover story.

Roberta began. "She was with Tony. It was his first day at school at school and he was only 5 years old. It was the first day he met Rhodey. He already met you, but only when I watched him."

The two nodded. She continued, "They were heading home and were about to get a cab. When a man stepped out and it was a criminal that searched and found women when they were alone with their kids and kill them both. He saw her alone with him and was in his stolen cab—At least that was what we thought he did with the car—so he decide to get them. Even in plain sight. In public.

"But Maria grabbed Tony's hand and ran as fast as she could. But he had a gun. And I believe a knife as well. But he shot twice and Maria covered Tony with her body taking one of the the bullets to her left shoulder. Leaving Tony wide open. But just as he was about to shoot the police showed up and caught him."

"That's what happened?" Pepper asked with tears in her own eyes.

"Yes. That's what Tony said. And some witnesses approved. He never spoke to anyone after that for months. Except that they called him Tony and not Anthony." She said and looked at Tony who was twitching in his sleep.

The two teens were so shocked that they didn't hear the next thing that Roberta said. They just sat there silent as a mouse. The didn't know what to do or think about the story. They knew Tony was upsetted by his mothers death, but when he had his memory he never talked about it. So they never knew what had happened to Maria.

"Guys I said can you help me carry Tony to his bed?" Roberta repeated and they nodded.

But just as they reached out to pick him up he woke up yelling. They all jumped back at his out burst. Roberta rubbed his back to comfort him. He calmed down, but remained silent. But he didn't have to same glassy stare he had before. Then he finally said something. "So my mom's dead and you didn't tell me?"

They flinched that he said that. They hadn't meant for him to remember it that way. Of course not, but it was that way and it was always gonna be like that. They couldn't change the past. Too bad though.

"yes and we're sorry. We thought that you'd take it better to find it out on your own. But again it's just what Dr. Yinsen was like when he said that you were fine. I'm sorry it was my idea. Well no it was Yinsen's but I went along with it." She said looking down.

Tony took a deep shaky breath and felt just how tired he was. And that was a lot. Almost fall asleep on the spot. Which didn't matter because he was on a couch and people do sleep on those, but he felt so uncomfortable on it. He wanted his own bed. Not the couch. But still he was tired enough to fall asleep standing up.

"Are you tired?" Rhodey asked as if reading his mind. But he was actually reading his face at how it was looking as if he had the worst flu ever. But it was just the pale skin from finding out that his mother was dead and not on a little 'business trip'. He also had large bags under his eyes and Rhodey wondered how he got them so fast. He didn't have them when they got home.

He nodded sleepily as his eyes drooped down even farther than they were before. He yawns a long long yawn and stretches and moves to get up. But is stopped by Roberta who went in front of him and gave him a quick hug before letting him go.

"Thanks Roberta..." He says and yawns again. "For everything."

He was tired but not enough that he was still upset that he only remembered that and not something else. Like Pepper or something else that he couldn't put a finger on. It seemed so close but to far to reach. To far to remember or say. But he let it slip, but knew once he was well rested he would think harder on it and at least try to remember something on Pepper.

But when he got to his room and laid down diagonally on his bed he saw Pepper spinning in the swivel chair in his room by his desk. _His _room. He did live here. Why else would he have a room? But when he saw Pepper flash him a smile when she noticed him looking at her through the thick cover of blankets, he swears that something about the smile was familiar. As if he saw it before. His body got warm instead of cold as it was since he found out what really happened to his mom. His heart seemed to race.

The last thought that ran through the teenage genius without a memory before he fell into a dreamless sleep was; _Maybe Rhodey was right... Maybe I am in love with her...but is he right about her loving him?_

**Booya! Sorry i'm just excited to see how i did with emotions or feelings. Please review and tell me! I really want to know. Just so if i need to do more in the future i will know how i did.**

__**get me**? **SO yeah... Please review and the next chapter should be up by friday otherwise this weekend...Hopefully sooner... That happens a lot i say it will be a while and the next chapter comes out long before i said it would but you get the idea. It will be soon. **_  
><em>


	5. Central park woods

**Please don't be mad, but this chapter gets a bit off track, but don't worry it leads to something! It also has a lot of blood... but most people aren't bothered by reading about it and plus i don't think that it's too bad. I mean have you read some of these other stories? So compared to those, this is nothing, but i just thought i'd warn those who are sensitive to that...**

**Anyways...Thanks for all the reviews! i read every one. SO on with the story...**

* * *

><p>Tony hadn't gone to school in a week. He was busy thinking about his mom. Well the only thing he could think of was the sound of the gun shots... They seemed to haunt him ever sense he found out. It was as if his mother died only the other day. But that was years ago. Many years ago. And even when he loses his memory it still came back to haunt him.<p>

He was laying in bed with his arm slung over his head as he did a bit after his father died, that came back... little bits and pieces did. One was that he had a lab, but he didn't say anything about it cause he remembered that that was kinda secret...Right? Another was this town has a lot of villains and they had to be stopped somehow...but how exactly? He remembered Rhodey and Pepper telling him about this iron man...but he never remembered who he was.

The littler things were stuff like how Pepper was like. But most of it he already found out. Again. She was very talkative, she was always begging Tony for something, but he couldn't figure that out. Or the memory of being at a crashed plane sight. That was when his father died, and he got a heart monitor. But he couldn't figure out what that suit was. He was really curious and planned on asking the others what that was. Maybe they'd know.

He sighed and got up looking at the clock that was on the ledge of the shelf above his bed. 9:15 am. Too early for him to be up at. But he ignored the earliness and frowned as he stood up. He yawned as he stretched and pulled out his phone to call Rhodey, but stopped when he remembered that his friend still went to school. As much as Rhodey wanted to stay home, his mom demanded that he go to school and that Tony would soon be going as well.

So with the phone call out of the option, he just played around on it. Even with all the small pieces of memory he had gotten in the last few days, he still felt as if he knew nothing. The only thing that came in detail was, unfortunately the memory of his mom's death. Everything else came in flashes and if they were pictures being switched as quick as they could.

He shook his head to get the thoughts that were fleeing in his mind away. He looked out the window that was by his dresser and smiled when saw the brightness. It was so much better than the dark. The dark reminded him of what seemed like he was always in and couldn't escape it. So as of seeing the light he made plans to walk in central park. He need the fresh air. From his memories he knows he never liked being away from technology, but nowadays he wanted to be in a place where he could think without feeling crammed in some small space with a bunch of flashing lights.

He dialed Roberta's number not caring if she was at work to tell her that he was going out. It was only fair cause the last time they left without telling her, she panicked and assumed that they were causing trouble. So after she confirmed that he could and that he shouldn't wander off to far, he put on his shoes and opened the door.

He stepped out the door quickly and looked around to see what direction it was to the city. To central park. He already knew where it was, but he just wanted to look to see who was around. Not many people was. They didn't exactly live on the street, but close enough.

After he got a good look around he began to walk off. But just as he was turning, he could have sworn that he saw someone looking at and and when a car passed he was gone. Who ever it was... So he shrugged it off and continued to walk. It take long because he was kinda speed walking after he saw the same person across the street and again it just disappeared. _How is he doing that?_

Tony didn't stick around to find out. He was afraid that the person whoever it was would keep following him. And that's when it hit him. As if it was a brick wall. _Ghost..._ He couldn't remember anything other than a name. That's all. Nothing else. Just ghost. But the name was freaky enough and he just walked away as quick as he could.

He got to central park he disappeared in to the large patch of trees that sat in the side of the park. He assumed the ghost dude just lost him and gave up. But he was wrong as he saw the same guy staring at him. He had some sort of suit on that covered his face. But this time he didn't disappear. He stood there as still as a rock. Staring at Tony as if he would poof away at any given moment. Tony stared back in fear that the man was going to use the gun on him that was hanging from his belt.

They were both aware of each other and Tony was about to say something when Ghost decided to walk forward. Making Tony shut his mouth with a pop. Tony backed away as he reached for his phone. Ghost didn't exactly care that Tony could be calling someone that could help. He already knew that Tony was iron man, but didn't have the armor. Which was real different cause he always had it with him. Always. The police couldn't do anything if he went invisible so they would just drop it.

He approached slowly as Tony dialed Rhodey's number. Tony was curious at why the Ghost person didn't just snap the phone away. Or why he came at him so slowly. Or that he didn't pull out a weapon of any sort. Just was walking towards him. Slowly as if in slow motion.

"Hello?" Rhodey said a bit irritated that he got called in the middle of class.

"Rhodey! Thank God! I was just in the park when some guy followed me! His name is Ghost!" Tony Panicked.

"Oh no! Okay Tony just if he talks to you talk back. Don't let him know you lost your memory. He's a criminal that gets hired to assassinate people. You were on that list. But he was paid off. I'll be right there!" Rhodey said and hung up.

Tony quickly put the phone away into his pocket and stood up straight and stared at Ghost with a stern look. "What do you want?"

"Oh nothing really...just you...dead" Ghost said in a low voice.

* * *

><p>(With Rhodey)<p>

He ran out of class despite the calls from the teacher to come back. He soon heard Pepper's foot step follow him. She caught up to him pretty quick. "What's going on?"

"Tony...Ghost...in park!" He said as he panted from running. But he kept going.

"What are you gonna do about it. I mean you need an armor. Or something." She said as fast as she normally does.

"Yeah I have Tony's back pack. Since he can't be iron man til he remembers more, I took the liberty to do it myself."

"What about war machine?"

"Not small enough to be put in back pack form."

They grabbed the armor backpack from Rhodey's locker where it always was since he lost his memory. They were already out of the school and they bumped into a few people as they rushed to get to Tony. They sprinted into a alley way and Rhodey armored up. He sighed in memory as he remembered the first time he flew in this suit. Well the last version of it. This one was a lot harder to control.

He grabbed pepper and took off lazily almost crashing into a building. Pepper was screaming her head off and Rhodey was concentrating hard on settling down. _How did he do this so good? _He sped up but was only taking so many risks. It took a while with all the swerving, yanking, and almost crashing to get there. But when they did, they couldn't see nothing.

All they could see were some people staring at the two wondering what was happening, cause they never just saw iron man hanging in the park with no one to fight. Little did they know that the iron man that they knew lost his memory and this was war machine. They also saw trees that were far back. This just had to be the right park. There wasn't many that aren't for just little kids.

But they couldn't find Tony. They were panicking. It was all but hopeless till they heard a scream that was cut of by something. That answered the citizens questions to why iron man was here... Rhodey flew over to the woods to where the scream seemed to come from. He dropped pepper off at the mouth of the trees and walked in with the chest light on. He couldn't find him. He went faster and soon enough he froze at the scene.

Tony lay on the ground under Ghost's knee as he pinned the teen down. From this angle Rhodey couldn't find anything wrong other than that Ghost was pinning him down. Leave crinkled as Pepper ran to join the action. She was really tempted to tackle the Ghost, but thought otherwise when she saw that Ghost had his hand fazed into Tony's chest.

"Ghost!" Rhodey yelled accusingly.

"Ahh so I see there is multiple iron mans" He said. "Isn't that right Tony?"

Tony flexed and tugged at the arm that held his neck. "I don't know what your talking about!"

"You should. It only happened a month ago maybe a bit longer stark. I know that your iron man and there is nothing you can do to make me forget."

Tony stared at him bewildered. _What? _"I have no idea! Okay! If you know something I don't I really could care less." he said blowing what Rhodey said at making Ghost think that you remembered everything.

"So you honestly don't remember me figuring out your Iron man?"

Before anyone said anything else ghost was shot with a repulsor on the back. It flung him off of Tony and Tony gasped for air. He had air before but not much with somebody kneeling on him and choking him both at once. He stood up and stared at Iron man. Some how even though he was never shown what iron man looked like he knew it was iron man. Plus Ghost gave him a few hints. _But why was he saying I was iron man. Clearly I'm not, cause I'm staring at him right now...and … Pepper?_

Nothing was said as iron man (Rhodey) beat up Ghost. But Tony was unfocused. He was focusing on something else entirely. It could have been a lot worse, but it still hurt. He looked down at his forearm. Blood dripped from his fingers. It was a long cut that began on the outside of his arm and curved to the inside stopping at about 3 inches to the wrist. Ghost had cut him pretty badly. It wasn't all to deep, but it still bled a lot. He was no doctor, but he knew he must have cut something to make it bleed so much. But somehow he knew that his vein wasn't cut. Luckily. Cause he did know what could happen if he did. He could bleed to death.

Pepper was so concentrated on what Rhodey was doing that she didn't realize that Tony was hurt. He was getting light headed and he knew he could only hold his consciousness for so long. Not much longer. But he held on to every ounce of it. He looked at Iron man from a distance. The armor looked so... _familiar..._ but what was it from?

He couldn't think much longer cause his eyes sagged from the lost of so much blood. The dead leaves under him were trickled with blood. Maybe he did cut a vein. Maybe that's why there's so much blood. Even with all of the noise going on, he could hear the blood as it constantly streamed down and off of his arm. Like the dripping of water from a sink that was recently used. His world was spinning as if he was spinning himself. But there was something else that was different from the blood lose...but he didn't know what it was.

Pepper finally looked to Tony after Rhodey and Ghost took their fight elsewhere. He wasn't facing her. He was facing the other direction. But she noticed something not many people would have noticed. He was swaying a bit and she crept around him to see his face. She detected the continuous tapping of something. And looked up to see if it was raining. It wasn't. There was hardly any clouds in sight. _Than what is that sound?_

The woods was as quiet as ever now that the fighting was else where. So if the sound wasn't rain it had to be something. She looked at Tony to see if he was pouring water or something. He wasn't, but why would he? But she wished it was him pouring water. He was pouring something alright. But not water. It was...blood.

She didn't mind blood and it never really made her dizzy. But this was different. This was constant. And on her best friend... the one she always felt safe around or the person who made her heart flip despite her thoughts. She couldn't see what the wound actually was, but she knew it was large enough to possibly be fatal. She loved drama. But not when it's real.

Her vision went fuzzy as she stared at the bloodied arm. She felt a bit nauseous and held herself up by using a tree as support. As quick as she could she reached for her phone to call somebody. 911? Or Rhodey? But she couldn't find her phone and recalled that her dad took her phone cause of the last phone bill.

"Er..Tony could I use your phone?" She asked him.

He nodded and without a thought went to snatch his phone from his pocket with the arm that was bloody. Pepper noticed that and out of instinct gripped his bad wrist. "I'll grab it."

He winced and moved his arm so she could reach in his pocket and grab it, but she paused. She was staring at her hand with horror. It was covered in blood. In Tony's blood. Her hand shook violently. Before she could get sick at all she clenched her now bloody hand causing a bit of it to drip down. With her clean hand she leaned forward and dug in his pocket. There was a slight pause between the two and as quickly as she could she caught hold of the phone and turned away so he couldn't see her blush.

She used her one hand not wanting to see her other hand and she dialed Rhodey first. He answered just after the first ring. "Hey pepper!"

"Rhodey are you done yet?" She asked.

"Oh yeah. Just got done I'm coming back as me." With that he hung up.

She sighed and turned to Tony in attempt to lose any awkwardness that may be there. But when she saw him leaning hard on the tree next to him, so walked over to him. With her clean hand she wrapped her arm around his waist, which caused sparks to buzz through the two, and supported his weight. She helped him walk even though it was his arm that was hurt and not his leg. She was also celebrating because his arm wasn't touching her for it was on the other side.

They met up with Rhodey who took the other side of Tony ignoring the blood. Tony winced as the cloth of Rhodey's sweater rubbed against his arm and groaned. Everything was now through a tunnel and his distance was off. So he felt as if everything was a lot farther than they really were. His vision was fuzzy and spinning causing him to keep stumbling.

"It'll be alright man."

"Yeah it'll be alright."

A memory flashed back.

_Small flash back._

_He opened his eyes a sliver. War machine was carrying him. He was mumbling something and Tony could only make it out to be_

"_It's going to be fine! Everything is going to be fine!" _

_A bright light caused him to close his eyes again and the last thing he heard was the worried shouts of the doctors and war machine..._

_END_

He was nauseous and on top of that, he was now getting his headache from the memory. He frowned. Everything that was said or yelled was a blur. Like someone talking in water. They just were odd sounds to Tony. Through his horrible vision, he saw the lights of a truck. Ambulance? The mumbling and sounds got louder as people began to crowd.

The last thing he remembered was the shouts of the doctors and possibly the police and some man walking up to him and he fell into the deep darkness that he hated.

* * *

><p>(With Roberta)<p>

She got off of work early and went straight home. When she got home nobody was at home. Tony was at the park and Rhodey was at school. She had the house to herself and she decided to clean. But then She sat down to take a break and turned on the news. It was complete chaos. It was live breaking news. And it showed a reporter standing to the side as she watched what was happening.

Roberta's eyes widened when she saw that it was central park. Where Tony was. The camera zoomed in on three teens stumbling through the park. Roberta almost choked on the coffee she was drinking. It was Tony, Rhodey, and Pepper. She could hardly notice it but she saw that Pepper and Rhodey were supporting a weak Tony. Pepper's hand had some damp blood on her hand and she could hardly see it, but she saw Tony's arm that was slung over her son's shoulder. It was bleeding really bad.

More chaos erupted when they got out of the park and now they were practically hauling Tony through the crowd that got thicker and thicker. The reporter was talking about something but Roberta shut her voice out. She concentrated on the scene. The police and ambulance arrived and Tony passed out just as a doctor got to him. She watched no more and zoomed to the hospital that they would have brought Tony to. She was there a second after Tony got there and a few minutes before Rhodey and Pepper came.

"Rhodey what Happened? Is he back on his secret? Tell me?" She demanded worriedly.

"Did you see?" Rhodey asked.

She shook her head. "No, but I did see you guys on the news. AND Saw how beat up Tony looked." She said pressing for an answer.

Rhodey shot a quick glance towards Pepper. She shrugged telling him she had no idea what to say. He sighed and turned back to his mom. She was leaning on foot and had her arms crossed. Not good. It was one thing when she had her hands on her hips, but it was a ton more effective when she crossed her arms. It was a bit scary. Correction: she _was _scary.

In panic he looked away and thought. But Roberta interrupted him. "If your trying to pick up a lie, then skip it. Your in enough trouble. So tell me the truth and nothing more."

"Rhodey she is mad. I wouldn't make her anymore mad...just say something..." Pepper said in a cautious tone only to Rhodey.

"Tony was attacked. We ran to help him. But he was already hurt. Iron man came and saved us. If he hadn't came Tony would be dead." It was good enough. It did border the truth.

"Weren't you supposed to be school?" She said now tapping her foot.

Rhodey frowned. Yes they were... "He called me in the middle of class in panic cause he saw some person following him to the park. Some guy that had a gun..." Rhodey said.

She could tell that he was telling her the truth. At least most of it was true. She caught a tone of voice in his tone when he said that iron man saved him...which made her awfully suspicious. Maybe they knew Iron man personally...? But as always she just dropped it, knowing there was more important matters to take care of. Tony.

* * *

><p>(Back in the room where Tony was)<p>

They scattered around the hospital room as they moved a passed out Tony Stark. He was seen by bystanders in central park being hauled by who could only be his two best friends. Almost instantly the bystander called for an ambulance and told their suspicions. That Tony was attacked by someone. Because that person did see Iron man not to long ago fight someone. That had to be the person that attacked him.

They frantically cleaned at his arm and put some meds in the cut to stop the bleeding. But all it did was slow it down. They were worried he cut one of his veins. But with all the blood they couldn't tell. It wasn't a deep wound, but was deep enough to need to be stitched up. But before they could do a single stitch, they had to stop the bleeding. Otherwise he could bleed to death. So they added a stronger medicine to the cut and wrapped it with gauze tied on to cover the cotton. They'd just have to be watchful on his blood count cause they had to wait before putting the stitches in. And giving him another blood transfusion would only cause him to bleed over the meds.

It was a few minutes after the cut was all wrapped up when they finally allow three people in to see how Tony was doing. He wasn't up, well he was weak from blood loss, but they still wanted to be there. It made them all feel better to be with him when he was in this shape. Pepper sat on the chair closest to Tony and looked straight at the bad arm. She was glad it stopped bleeding. Well she thought it had. But the doctors hadn't told anyone the details. Just that he was still passed out and they did everything they could to help. So they just assumed that he was fine. Which he was, but the doctors were cautious at if he had enough blood. So every so often they came in and checked it out on some machine.

Though it said he had enough blood there was something else that wasn't right. His heartbeat was irregular. Not slow from blood lose. It was faster than ever. But they just figured it was a bad dream though they were cautious even more so than before. Instead of leaving they left Yinsen to stay and watch him. For the while he chatted with Roberta and the teens at what happened. He got the same story. But the story was pretty much true. Save for a few details.

They sat in silence til Tony twitched. He didn't wake, but he moved. Just as the monitor that held his heart beat went wild. A ton faster than before. Yinsen in panic reached to his neck to see if it was him, or the machine malfunctioning. But unfortunately, it was Tony and it only made Yinsen more clueless than ever. He had no idea what to do. He didn't even know what it was that could make his heart go that fast.

He tried to think of the last time that he had this happen. Then it hit him. The last time it was a poison that was fatal. The person that had it had no chance of living and he died within hours. The only way to remove it was to clean his blood. But that was risky when he didn't have a lot of blood. So most likely, Tony would be gone...

"No..." Yinsen mumbled. The other three looked at him uneasily.

If Yinsen was correct, Tony had a couple of hours left. Or only one...so without answering the questions that were thrown at him, he called in more doctors and told them the situation. They rushed Tony's visitors out the door. Just as they turned back from the door, they went to stitch up Tony so they could give him some more blood so they could clean it out. But just as they went to stitch it up, Tony gasped and his eyes opened.

"Tony?" The doctors said in a stupor.

"Yes? Where am I? Wait? Why am I in a hospital?" He asked curiously.

Yinsen was worried that Tony had lost the latest memories once again and feared that it may have been worse on him then it was before. But there was something about Tony's face that left Yinsen boggled. It wasn't as clueless as it was after the incident that caused him to lose his memory. It was different. New.

* * *

><p>(Tony's POV 3rd person.)<p>

It was dark. Pitch black. Nothing else was there but darkness. That was til it was blazing bright and his eyes snapped open with realization. _What am I doing in a hospital? What happened? _

"Tony?" A voice said. He turned his head looking at the three doctors that seemed to be working on him. _Why?_

"Yeah?" He said slowly.

The doctor that spoke was none other than Dr. Yinsen. The one that worked on him after the plane crash. The one that Rhodey took him to after he told the armor to help him after the accident.

Yes he did have his memory back...But not all of it... One thing still confused him. Pepper. He was still a bit unclear at who she was.

But before he did anything else the doctor's put him asleep so they could hurry up so they could clean his blood so he didn't die.

…

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><p>Out with Pepper and Rhodey they stood outside waiting. It was close to time to where Pepper was gonna freak out and really start worrying. But a doctor came out and told them the news.<p>

"Tony should be fine if we hurry up. He was poisoned directly to a bloodline but what the poison was it was super slow so it would have caused a painful death. But since we caught it before it reached his heart. So after stitches, were gonna clean his blood through a machine that will take out all the poison." She informed them and smiled. "Dr. Yinsen might have some good news for you three."

With that she walked away making the other three frown in confusion. Though they didn't care they were still processing what she said. _Good news...? _

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><p><strong>Again sorry if i went a bit off track, but it still has a bit of the subject on and it does lead to something and you already know what that is.. its about Tony... but still i feel like i should tell you this because i don't want you bothering me because i'm not going anywhere...<strong>

_**This is so off topic, but I've been thinking about making a new IMAA Fanfic with new enemy(s) But it's not one that is on the show, but i want you to make the character that is evil. So review or PM me the details if you want and i'll try to put the character in my story. I've seen this in a Fanfic i read so i thought I'd do that to so if that is you, You get the credit for the idea of making your own characters. Just say what you want to look like or look like, what your special moves are or weapons or actions... You get the idea? Yeah so if you review or PM me the details, I will do my best to put it in the new story if i decide to do it... First i need ideas people! This story is based on those characters. Oh and add who they target... like Enemy#1 targets Tony or Enemy#3 targets Rhodey or Pepper or random citizen... I don't care. Also need names! But i need at least two villains one would also work but I'd like at least two... **_

**ANYWAYS Please read and review. Next chapter gonna be up as soon as possible. **

**P.S. Please explain character if you do decide to PM or Review about the possible new story i will need as much detail or at least the big things on your villain to write them as you'd like them... But if i don't get any villain characters i cant do the story. But you don't have to so yeah.. I'LL SHUT UP NOW! SORRY!  
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	6. Its the look in your eyes

**Okay so i know it's been awhile, but here it is. The chapter may be a bit slow, but at the end i tried to write some Pepperony ****and now i want to know if i was any good at it. Cause i am no good at romance. It's not exactly romance, but still it's a little moment the Two share and i thought it would be important to include in this chapter. **

**Please forgive me if i forget anything important. Thank you to all that liked and reviewed my story. **

**I don't own iron man..-i should have said that a while ago. sorry.  
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><p>Flashes past by his unconscious mind.<p>

_Red and gold armor blasting to the skies. Pepper's broad eyes as she stood to help Tony up. Danger. Blackness. Pain. A laugh. A giggle. Some grins. Gleaming blazing purity of nothing. The dead beep of a monitor at a hospital. More darkness. A gun shot. A loud shout. The flash. The vacancy inside. Doctors frantically looking down on his out of shape form. Roberta. Rhodey. Iron man. Whips that were filled with energy. Glacial iciness. Being dragged like a rag doll. Police sirens. Lights. Even more painful sensation and darkness that was accompanied now with more bareness. Bittersweet depressing gloominess of it all. _

As his mind wrapped the recently found memories he tries to find out why he can't remember much about Pepper. It was as if there was a mental barrier between his recovered memories and the still lost ones. It was like he was not allowed at all to take a single glimpse at her or else if he were to remember her there would be more peril than what Tony could handle. So he just lay there unable to move. Something was keeping him anchored down to the ground. It had to be big, he couldn't move a muscle. Not even to flinch.

He wanted to do something. _Something_ other than sit there and ponder over what he was going to do when and if he was going to wake up. Which of course his will. He was the famous Tony Stark. He made it out of pretty much anything. Maybe he would get out from under the strong weight. A loud gasp sounded and to Tony's surprise, he was able to turn his head so he didn't get stuck with just laying there completely still. That would have been more boring then school. Which always slowed Tony down. _Gunshot..._

He opened his eyes an inch. Yinsen was looking over a machine that was standing to the side of the hospital room and Tony looked at his arm. There was a loud beep and the sound of knocking on the door went off and the door opened in flash. In came Rhodey, Pepper, and Roberta. They had the biggest smiles on their faces and they were clearly enjoying the moment.

"Tony how do you feel?" Roberta asked before the other two could begin their words.

"Fine I...i remember things..." Tony said in amazement. It was after all quite evident in his voice that he was appalled by the sudden appearance of his memories.

"Really? Like what? Do you remember me?" Pepper said with a desperate tone.

"I remember the plane crash and what had saved me...a uh secret... more on my moms death...*sighs* school. Rhodey, Whitney and somewhat of Happy. These twins...one was a android...oh wow that is a horrible secret to have..." He said that last part more to himself than to the others. For some reason it was pushing at him to say it, but even with his memories lost he still knew that was something you would leave in the shadows. Never to be discovered.

Roberta frowned and it would have been obvious to anyone if they were paying attention to her that she was a bit upsetted that he remembered the secret and remembered that it was supposed to be secret. She wished that it would have been easier but no it had to be difficult and never easy enough for her. She had to do this the hard way. It was for their safety and if she couldn't get Tony to say it, which she bet that if she pressed in on the answer he would give in no matter if he wanted to, she would get it out of Rhodey in time.

But she was just happy that Tony was alright and they got the poison out before it got to his heart. Though when he was passed out, they had to pin him-no strap-him down to the hospital bed when he started flipping out cause of the closeness of the poison. It was just that close to touching his heart and he was just that close to death. They had almost lost him. It pained her that he kept getting hurt. But this time the story about him getting attacked by someone just made her think why. And who? Who would just randomly attack Tony? That was it. It couldn't have been a random attack. It was planned. It just had to be. But why?

She stopped her thinking when she heard a voice, but couldn't understand what it was saying and she shook her head and said, "Did you say something?"

"Yeah I asked if you were alright." Tony said looking at her with his eyebrows creased.

"Your worried about me? I'm not the one that almost died. But I am perfectly fine, but when we get home we have to talk about something." She said and began to talk to a doctor about his status.

Rhodey frowned at her comment and looked down. He knew what it was. It was terrible for poor Tony to wake up, remember a bit of stuff then have to blow his secret. He just wished that she would have given him a bit more time, but she probably knew that the longer she waited to talk about the sooner that he may lose the feeling to talk to her. He still was a bit more truthful about everything and Rhodey could tell that he was stressing over telling her. A while ago Rhodey actually wanted to tell her, but Tony had turned his idea down. Tony was afraid that his job at being iron man would be all over. But nobody knew if that would happen or not. So nobody could blame any of the two.

"Rhodey I don't think he remembers me." Pepper murmured into Rhodey's ear.

"We don't know that yet."

"Yeah but he mentioned Whitney, happy, you, and even the twins. They haven't been at school for a while and I have been his friend and everything much longer than that. And he still hasn't mentioned me."

"Don't stress over it just go talk to him. You never know."

She sighed and walked over to Tony who occupied himself in playing with the phone. His phone really. She knelt down beside the hospital bed and rested her elbows on the bed and glanced up at Tony. He was so absorbed in his game he didn't notice her there or he was just ignoring her. Either way she was bothered by. But she didn't let him get on her nerves cause of all that happened. But she wouldn't go easy on him when all this business is over.

She took a deep breath before speaking up. "Tony I was seeing if I could speak with you."

He taps something on his phone and pockets the device all the while taking one glance at Pepper and then finished getting comfortable and looked to Pepper with his full attention. He wanted to see if he could remember anything else on her. So he searched for the more deep details. Like every freckle, the shape of her eye, her nose, mouth, even her ears. Nothing triggered anything so he just stared at her waiting to see what she was boiling up in her mind.

"Do you remember me." She asked in a blurt.

He felt a pang in his stomach. He could tell she was hurt that he hasn't mentioned her yet. He blinked and looked down, his hair falling in his eyes. He shoved it away in frustration. "No..."

Her heart literally just dropped. _What? WHY? _"Why not?" She replied with a small voice.

He rubbed his sweaty hands on his pants. "I dunno. Maybe just a hard part of my memory... well I don't remember lots of things. I just remember the big things now." His voice wavered as he said that. Again he was thinking of his mom.

Pepper caught the shakiness of his voice and instinctively rubbed the back of his hand. "It's alright. I just kind of wish you remembered me more. I am your best friend and I don't want you to forget me. I don't want us to grow apart." She blushed at the last comment hoping that Tony hadn't seen.

Tony chuckled slightly at the memory of the first time he woke up. When Rhodey had told him that he and Pepper were in love. Though he had mentioned that he hadn't minded if they were he couldn't think of it being real. If they were best friends why would they date? It could ruin their relationship as friends. Couldn't it? But he has always been thinking of the possibilities if they did.

Was it meant to be? Or was this another silly crush that would soon go away. Like food. You may like on food one day and the next time it tastes funny and you don't like it no more and you stop eating it. Would that happen between the two if they did start dating? Or would they be together for the rest of their lives til their old. Unless one of them dies early. Which could happen at any moment.

"I don't want to lose whatever relationship we had. Don't worry there's no chance of that." Tony said softly.

Pepper was surprised at his response. She wasn't at all expecting or prepared for the word that just escaped from Tony's mouth. She blushed brighter and this time she knew Tony saw cause he put on a small smile and sorta looked away at Rhodey who was sitting in the corner smiling to himself. He could here everything they were saying. He was close enough and they spoke just loud enough for him to hear, but he just looks away and pretends that he's not paying attention to them in the slightest.

"Hey Tony?" Pepper asks bringing his attention back.

"Hmm?"

"Do you remember anything?"

He closed his eyes trying to see what had happened the time when they fell and she helped him up. He searched every corner of his brain. Twice, Three times, before it hit. It was nothing big, but it was something.

He remembers something about a sword and a book. Another teen was there with Tony, Pepper, and Rhodey. Tony had his backpack. And the ground was shaking and rumbling. He fell through as well as pepper and he landed on his back and quickly got up. He looked up to where he heard Pepper's screaming. It sounded like, "Tony! Catch meeee!" And he did but she landed right on him. She looked at him for a moment before he said something and she got of with a red face. She helped him up.

He snapped his eyes open and looked at her curious face. "One thing. It was with some other kid. I don't really remember him. But we fell through the ground and I caught you. And you helped me up."

She sighed. It was small, but it was something. And something was pretty big to her. But when she looked away for a few minutes to think, she felt the weight of someone looking at her intensely. And that someone was Tony who had his head tilted to the side as he gazed at the red head. She looked at him with one eyebrow raised in question that stated, _why are you looking at me like that?_

He only blinked and stayed quiet and narrowed his eyes. There was silence and Pepper was just staring back at Tony as if he was crazy. Sometimes he actually was. The silence caused Rhodey to look over hoping the silence meant that they finally kissed but was disappointed to just see them staring at each other. One with major curiosity and the other as if the other one went mad. The adults that were still talking also noticed the silence and instantly spun around thinking that something bad has happened.

Pepper knew everyone was staring, but she didn't care one bit. She wanted to get to the bottom of whatever it was that was causing Tony to stare at he like this. She knew he lost his memory and maybe he was just trying to remember her more or something. But she didn't want to disturb the silence, afraid that it would ruin his train of thought and he wouldn't say anything about it cause he'll forget. Or something like that. But nobody else seemed to want to disturb them.

Roberta knew the two were going to end up together and she motioned that the doctor stayed quiet. Rhodey had always known the two would fall for each other and was eager to see them together. So the silence remained. They all waited for Tony to say something. Something that would be interesting and not just random like asking what they were going to do or anything like that.

Tony was frozen solid. Not by choice. He could move, but his body screamed at him not to so afraid he'd do something wrong if he did he remained still and staring at Pepper. He couldn't remember anything else no matter how much he tried, but he had made the mistake and looked into her eyes and he couldn't look away. Even if he tried, even if he wanted to. His eyes wouldn't budge. But he saw from the corner of his eyes that everyone was staring at the two. He was trying to find something in her eyes, but he had no idea what it was that he was looking for.

Pepper watched as Tony's head moved and his expressions changed from frustration to sadness to anger and right back to curious. He had only blinked a few times in the past few minutes. She watched as he knitted his eyebrows together and he pursed his lips in irritation. She could tell that something was bothering him and he wanted to know what it was. He lifted his hand not removing his eyes from Pepper and scratched his cheek. After he lowered his hand he leaned forward.

Pepper's eyes widened and she pulled back. "What are you doing?"

He blinked and narrowed his eyes more. He leaned in closer and she tried to back away more, but he held her shoulders and she gave him the _you are crazy_ look. But he didn't seem to care. She closed her eyes afraid of what was coming.

"No don't do that." Tony said in disapproval.

She opened her eyes to see Tony's eyes right in front of hers. "What?"

"Don't close your eyes. I wasn't going to do anything. I was just curious..." His voice tailed off and he just stared with a empty expression.

Rhodey was now majorly disappointed that he hadn't kissed her. He could tell that Pepper thought that to, but Tony surprised them all by disrupting the moment when Pepper closed her eyes. Roberta was bewildered at the scene that was just played out. It was awkward and silent. No matter what. Nobody could speak even if they had wanted to and now, Tony seems to be in some kind of trance.

"Tony?" Pepper asked and got no answer. She waved her hands in front of him and frowned.

"Pepper maybe he's remembering something. Just try to leave him alone." Rhodey said.

He Peeled himself off the wall and as gentle as possible, he lowered Tony Down from his sitting position and to a laying down one. He sighed in relief that he blinked and looked around and found Pepper again. _Oh great now he can't stop looking at Pepper._ Rhodey thought. He shook his head and sat himself back down in his corner.

Tony still looking at Pepper stretched and rubbed his eyes. He yawned and you could see that he was fighting sleep. He didn't want sleep he wanted to look at Pepper all day. But he knew she would soon get to bothered by his staring and move, possibly even leave. Or get mad. None of those would make Tony happy. They actually would make him kind of sad. But felt like he should do something.

Without his own permission he raised his good arm slowly. Pepper was close to Tony's head at where she knelt. So he didn't need to reach very far. Slowly with slightly trembling hands his fingers touched her forehead. He gently rubbed her hair out of her face and caressed her face.

Pepper was so shocked that she didn't do anything. This was even more weird than the staring and even more surprising. He was actually touching her face softly as if she was the most fragile vase ever. He had some kind of longing in his eyes. She felt the shaking of his hand and she realized that he was actually afraid that she would push him away. But she didn't even though she could she didn't exactly want to. She felt the heat go into her cheeks.

She was beautiful. In Tony's eyes she wasn't pretty. She was _beautiful._ And nothing else could explain it. Maybe gorgeous, but nothing else. She was more than that. There wasn't any other words for it. But he was confused at why she wasn't pulling away and yelling at him to leave her alone. He thought she would, but who him for thinking that. He couldn't remember much on her but he still knew she was beautiful and he doesn't have to keep that hidden. If she didn't like it then she could say something. But one thing that Tony was absolutely scared of and that was...that she would leave and never talk to him again.

He rubbed his thumb lightly on her cheek and his eyes were drooping from tiredness. He didn't want to sleep and everyone saw that. But he fought it long enough to say, "Don't go."

Then he fell asleep making his arm fall limp to his side. They all stared in more silence. They were not expecting that. No one was. Pepper held her own hand up and touched the cheek that Tony just held. She saw something in his eyes. It was realization. She didn't know if it was from him remembering her more, or if it was something else entirely. But she just sat there and after a moment when the shock began to wear off, she smiled lightly.

Rhodey just about exploded from joy. It wasn't a kiss, but it was a caress. It was a longing look. It was him not wanting to wake up and find she was gone. He was afraid to be alone with out her. He knew she was _her. _ She was that girl. She was for him. Rhodey smirked and felt like he could sing it to the world. _Tony's in love and he may not like it, but now I'm gonna do everything in my will to get you two lovebirds together._ Rhodey thought.

Roberta smiled to herself and she even saw her own son smiling in approval. She was glad that Tony hadn't kissed Pepper. Not that she didn't want him to, it was just that Pepper looked like she didn't really want to kiss him. At least not yet. Or at least when they had privacy, but she looked like she hadn't minded him moving her hair or holding her cheek in a soft caress. Roberta was proud of the two. She just was.

Pepper who was still smiling and now even more conscious that she had an audience she moved Tony's that was at his side to on top of his stomach. She was always uncomfortable when she slept and her hands were just laying at her side so she fixed it with Tony.

Even though she knew he couldn't comprehend or hear her anymore she still whispered, "I won't leave. I promise."

She was going to keep that promise no matter what. She was going to stay for when he woke up he wouldn't be sad that she left. _Don't worry I'm going nowhere._

__**So how did i do with the Pepperony? if it was Pepperony, but i am no good at that so i wanted to see if you think i am no good cause i don't think i am. Please review and tell me if i need to fix anything.**

**Remember that i still can take more villain ideas! I need MORE! I got a bunch, but that doesn't mean ill use them all, but i probably will and i want to have as many villains as possible so yeah please please PLEASE tell me, NAMES, LOOKS, ABILITIES/WEAPONS, TARGET, MISSION, FLAWS/WEAKNESSES, AND DETAIL. AT LEAST A LITTLE BIT! Please i need some of your guys' bright ideas. **

**If i dont update by sunday, Happy easter! i dont know if all of you still do easter but for those of you that do, HAPPY EASTER! ^.0  
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	7. Night time carries lots of mysteries

**Okay so this chapter is a bit slow, but it leads to the epic next chapter! Well at least i'm gonna try and make it epic. If not then thats to bad. But personally, i don't like this chapter and it took my 3 to 4 days to finish because i had no idea what i was doing for the chapter, but don't worry i've found a good start for the next chapter and should have it up soon. **

**THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS! Okay heres a bit of shout outs. **

**Alice. Dreamer 15-Thanks a lot i am working on it! ^.^  
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**Carpetbakr-Yeah i don't really like obsessive Pepperony. I try to keep gentle and sweet. but saying i still stink at it, i really don't know what kind i'm writing about. just as long as its not too much. ^.0  
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**UnikDork-Thanks! XD**

**Finny-Kin Goddess-****This chapter he won't, but don't worry it'll be soon! sorry. -_-**

**Thats all. I've decided to do shout outs now so yeah...Please read through even though it's incredibly boring. It gets a lot better at the end in my opinion! Some things may be awkward, but that just depends on how you read it. It wasn't supposed to be like that, but if you read it like that it will be. SO try not to read it that way if you don't like awkwardness.  
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Pepper kept her promise and didn't leave. She had no reason to leave. While she was waiting for him to wake up, she visualized her day. First it was calm, then it was bloody, then it was just down right stressing. Tony going to the hospital was never a good thing to Pepper. Nor on Rhodey. It was hard on everybody and not just her. But she could almost swear that it was the hardest on her. She being one of those worry like crazy when her friend was hurt, yet she loved adventures, but she hated them if they hurt her friends.

She also thought about the moment earlier where she just stared into Tony's eyes. She knew he was just fighting sleep as much as he could. He was on strong meds anyways and him having a long day would do that to you. While he slept everyone chatted. Rhodey spent his time teasing Pepper about being loved by a clueless person that lost his memory and now was even more clueless. He was most amused by that. Sometimes she ignored it. But after awhile when it got really annoying, she would shove him just hard enough to send him off his chair. What really pushed her to do that was when he said that she was in love with him. Lovebirds as he would say. He always said that. But after today he was sorta telling the truth.

"Rhodey he was on strong meds. Its probably just giving him hallucinations. He was just reacting to it." She said finally.

"Yeah that explains why you didn't push him away. Or that you were getting ready to kiss him." Rhodey smirked.

She blushed. "I didn't want to hurt his feelings!"

"Yeah letting him think that you liked him then turning him down when he tries to kiss you again. Then he'd be much more hurt than if you just pushed him away."

"He wasn't going to kiss me. He was just looking at my eyes."

Rhodey sighed in defeat. He and Pepper could go on like this for ages. But that wasn't what he planned on doing. What he wanted was for the two to realize they are in love and get together, but of course he was going to have to wait til Tony got the rest of his memories back. Amnesia was a serious thing and nobody would want it. Except Tony had to get it when the two were finally getting a bit closer. Then he ends up forgetting all about it.

"Rhodey I think we should go home." Roberta said when she was done with her magazine she was reading. "You too Pepper."

She shook her head. "I promised to Tony I wouldn't leave. You go ahead."

Roberta just shrugged and motioned for Rhodey to come with. Rhodey who was smiling and now was super curious at what the 'night' would turn into when the two were alone. He wondered if Tony would wake up and kiss her. Hopefully nothing more...but knowing Tony, he wouldn't do anything. But still Rhodey just wish the two would kiss already.

Pepper watched the two leave and sighed. She was prepared for the silence. Unless Tony woke up soon and talked to her. But it was late and sooner or later she would fall asleep. She had school tomorrow, but her dad would understand if she skipped. Her best friend was in the hospital after all and her dad understood the feeling of that. When you have close friends that are hurt or sick you want to be there for them. But she still didn't want to be asleep when he woke up. But she was falling asleep and fighting it as Tony had. She frowned and her head bobbed as she was falling asleep. She stood up so she didn't fall asleep.

She walked outside and saw the doctor that Tony had earlier and went over to him. "Hey doctor?"

"Hmm?" he asked while looking at some of his paperwork.

"When do you think Tony will wake up?" She asked in her sweet voice.

"Well he was given more pain killers not to long ago cause the the blood loss and stitches and poison...we were just giving out a precaution. They aren't that strong, but he will still be a bit tired... so that means that he should be out for a couple of hours."

She nodded and walked quickly back to the room. She knew that she would probably sleep more than a couple of hours, but Tony would wake her up if he needed her. So she allowed herself to sleep. She looked around the room for a spot to lay. The only spot that looked even slightly comfortable was the bed. But that's where Tony was... She she forced herself to sit in the chair beside him and lay her head down on the bed. She closed her eyes waiting for sleep to over power her and send her to bed. But nothing happened. She laid there for a while not knowing what to do exactly. Even though she was super tired, she couldn't fall asleep when she was so uncomfortable.

But the only comfortable spot was the bed and she did not want to have Tony waking up to he snuggled up at the side of his bed and be freaked out and not like her or something. But she was now getting a headache and she couldn't think of anything else to do. So she slowly got in with him but as far as she could from him. She used the extra blanket that a nurse had put in there for her a while ago. Before the others left even. It was for who ever stayed. So now on the very edge of the bed she fell asleep.

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><p>Tony woke up groggily and dazed. He kept his eyes closed just so he could wake up before he actually showed it. But when he went to yawn and found it hard to and just noticed that there was a heavy weight on his chest. In panic he snapped his eyes open and found that he face almost was <em>in<em> a red mess of hair. Pepper's head and arm were on his heart monitor. It wasn't in a cuddly snugly way, but more in a _your the closest pillow I could find with out being to close to your face_ sort of way. Though it didn't look like she did it on purpose, but he knew what that was like.

He remembered always doing that with his mom when he was young and she was still alive...he shook the memory from his head and frowned in frustration. _Why can't I remember Pepper when she was my friend and was always with me more recent than these memories. _He looked down as she moved a bit so she wasn't so much looking down and more of a straight forward and now she looked from Tony's view like she would if she was looking forward while he looked right down at her from the sky.

It made him smile. He was bored and had nothing to do. So he just laid there and did nothing. He looked at the clock that hung just by the door and frowned. It was 3:45 AM. He knew it was am because the window was pitch black. It was late and there was school the next day and Pepper was still here. She couldn't skip school because of him. But because of lack of memory he couldn't remember what she was like if she was woken up with out her own will. And because of that, he didn't bother her.

He tried to fall asleep himself but he couldn't do it. He already slept for hours and hours. So that didn't help the fact that it was the middle of the night. It also didn't help the fact that he was incredibly bored and was now super thirsty. So he slowly rubbed his eyes and thought for a moment. He could just gently push her off of him and lay her onto the pillow. He could sit somewhere else. Or he could call in a nurse. He decided not to call a nurse because she/he might not know to stay quiet and wake Pepper up.

So he carefully put his hands on her shoulder and arm and pressed her off of him. She stirred a bit, but didn't wake. He pulled her up onto the pillow and pulled up both of the thin blankets onto her and slowly walked out the door. He looked down the hallway and saw the water fountain that he was looking for. He made his way over to it and when he was half way there he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

It turned him around and he was facing that doctor that he woke up to when he first lost his memory.

"Tony you shouldn't be walking." He said in a soft tone.

"I know I'm sorry. I was just thirsty." Tony explained.

"Yes, but couldn't you call in a nurse?" He asked.

"No. Pepper was sleeping and the nurse would have made too much sound. So I came out here."

The doctor sighed. "Just don't get up again unless its an emergency." once said the doctor turned and went right into a hospital room close to his own.

He got his drink and straightened himself and spun around quickly getting himself lightheaded, but it went away. He began his walk back to the room but paused when he saw someone at the end of the hallway. It was Virgil. Pepper's dad. That was one thing Tony had remembered. But he only knew the relationship status between him and Pepper and not that he was a FBI agent or anything. Just that he was Pepper's dad and was very protective over her.

Virgil spotted Tony staring and grinned. He traveled up to Tony and speaks. "Hello Tony. Do you know where Pepper is? She didn't call or come home."

Tony nods in reassurance. "Yes she's sleeping in the room. Just follow me."

Tony leads the way in and finds Pepper now curled up into a ball on the bed the blankets all tangled up. Tony smiled knowing that she was sleeping peacefully. He wouldn't want her to be uncomfortable. And she didn't look like she was. At least not anymore.

Virgil upon seeing his daughter in the hospital bed where he knew Tony was just at jumped to conclusions. They weren't bad ones. He just thought it meant that they were together.

"So you dating my daughter now?" Virgil asked.

Tony gasped and sputtered. "_What? No!"_

"Oh I just thought because she was sleeping with you..." His voice trailed off as the awkward moment ran its course.

"Oh wow...no. I was sleeping since for many hours and I woke up to her laying on my chest, but no were not together...no. She probably got tired and was uncomfortable so she decided to just lay down and...uh...ended up like...that."

"oh okay. I was just wondering. Otherwise I would have to give you the _don't you touch my daughter or else _speech."

Tony looked away shyly. That was not what he wanted to hear. He wasn't going to do anything with Pepper. They weren't even together. Even if they were Tony would never go that far. Surely he should have known. But than again they hardly knew each other except when Pepper mentioned him. So yeah neither of them knew what the other was like. But they both would give their guesses.

"Sorry just don't want my girl getting hurt." Virgil said to break the silence.

Tony only nodded. They just stood there watching Pepper both having one of those conversations that you may start in the waiting room for a doctor or at a bus stop. And if Pepper were to wake up, this would be the weirdest thing to wake up to. Your dad and you best friend are watching you sleep while having an absent minded conversation. Yeah that's weird for you.

But all she did was yawn and turn so she was now facing them. She looked so peaceful in her sleep. None of the boys knew what to say about the scene before them. The first one to actually move that wasn't a movement to shift positions or posture was Tony who went to go sit in the chair that Pepper was in before he fell asleep. Pepper had her face snuggled up to the pillow and her mouth was ajar. This was that peaceful look. The calm, sweet, soft, and gentle look of a person sleeping. That did sound stalkerish... yeah it did...

Virgil decided that he'd leave his daughter to her peace with her friend. She did have a rough day and did need rest and of course she deserved to have a day off. He knew most parents would take her home from the hospital, but he didn't mind that Tony was watching over her. He did let her take the bed when he was the one one the meds that will make him sleepy. He did watch over her protectively even when he wasn't at the hospital. It was at his home, at the Rhodes home, it was that one time that the school was put to sleep by that psychotic girl. It wasn't just at Pepper it was also towards Rhodey. So Virgil knew that his daughter was in safe hands.

"I'll just leave so she could get her rest as I should be also." He said while heading for the door. "Oh and you get some sleep too."

Tony nodded and looked back at Pepper. He just couldn't get over that he couldn't remember him. It didn't make any sense. It was as if something was purposely trying to keep him from remembering anything. It had to be. But it couldn't be. But all he could do was try his hardest to remember.

His thoughts were interrupted when Pepper mumble something quietly to her pillow that Tony had to stain to hear. She was saying something that sounded a lot like "Tony... no...! Don't leave..."

He rubbed her forehead. "It's okay Pepper. Calm down."

* * *

><p>(With Rhodey)<p>

Rhodey couldn't sleep. He was too awake. He was to happy from the events from before. Sad also. So many thoughts ran through his mind. He just had to know what was happening. But of course he couldn't. What really confused him was why his mother let Pepper stay and not him. It's not like they weren't friends. They were best friends and yet Rhodey wasn't allowed to stay with his friends. He grabbed his phone from the table and checked the time and it was about 4:30 AM. He couldn't sleep for almost an entire hour. He shoved his phone in his pocket.

He sighed and rolled over on his bed. He tried hard to fall asleep so the next day would come and Tony would be released from the hospital and found it was still hard to fall asleep when he thought of what it would be like with Tony out of the hospital and possible with his memories back. But what was most confusing was the fact that Tony would remember almost everything, _but_ Pepper. The memory of her still floated in the dead space of his mind that wouldn't let it go. It was a prison cell for the memory. It just wouldn't allow Tony to know.

Rhodey rubbed his head and stood up resigning to just have a quick snack and maybe he'll fall asleep so when he did get up and go to the kitchen. But something wasn't right. The room was to dark. Normally there was a bit of light from the outside lamp and street light, but when Rhodey looked out the window and out to the street he was surprised to see all the lights on the road were shut off. _Odd..._

Rhodey backed away from the window. He turned to the cupboard and switched the lights on from under them. He went to the pantry and pulled out a quick small bag of chips and sat at the table. He munched on them for a few minutes and paused. He swore he saw the lights out side turn on and off. He ignored it for the moment and ate the last two chips. He quietly crumpled up the bag and threw it away.

The lights turned on again and this time accompanied by a shadow before it turned off. Rhodey spun around from the garbage and looked about. There was nothing there. _Stop being so paranoid!_ Rhodey scolded himself and turned to go back to his room to make another attempt at sleep. But the sound of a shattering window made him fling himself around again, but only to meet rough hands that covered his mouth and dragged him towards the front door. He struggled but as he did, more hands tugged at him and at one point something hit him and it all went dark.

* * *

><p>(At the hospital)<p>

Tony who had dozed off on the chair woke up to something poking his knee. He opened his eyes, rubbed them, yawned, and finally looked over to what was poking him. It was Pepper who was also yawning and then looked at Tony worriedly.

"Why aren't you sleeping on the bed?" She asked tiredly.

"I had to get a drink. And you were kinda using me as a pillow...don't worry I'm not mad. Plus you looked so peaceful I didn't want to bother you."

She blushed. She had a feeling that would happen. That she would end up either hugging Tony or laying on him like a pillow. NOT IN A ROMANTIC WAY! That was majorly embarrassing. She didn't want that to happen. At least he didn't take it the wrong way. That would require a lot more explanation.

"Sorry."

"Don't worry about it. You were probably uncomfortable and wanted something to lay on, but there was no pillow. I did that when I was young...with my...mom" His voice lowered at the mention of his mom.

She smiled softly to let him know that it was okay. She knew he still had that soft spot for his mother. The doctor had said he had already known his father was dead so he took his father's death lighter than he did with his mom's death that happened when he was a lot younger. She knew what it was like with out her mother. But her mother died when she was about 3 so she had no memory of what it was like with her mom.

He sighed and craned his neck to see the time once more. It was only 6:59 Am. Still enough time to get Pepper to school. He didn't want her to miss it just because he was in the hospital. He was getting released that same day. So it wasn't like he was gonna be stuck there all day.

"Pepper I think you should-" he was in the middle of the sentence when the door burst open and Roberta came in panting. Her eyes were wide with worry.

"Have either of you seen Rhodey?" She asks.

They share a quick look. They then both shake their heads slowly. Roberta's eyes widen now with fear in them. "Roberta what's the matter?" Tony asked.

"Rhodey...he's missing!" She said with a slight sob to her voice. _Whoa. Not much ever made her cry._

"What happened?" Pepper asked with a gasp.

"I don't really know! I can't remember much of what happened when we got home. But...I woke with a terrible headache that was just...i-i went to the bathroom to get the medicine to make it go away...and...and." She took a shaky breath. "The window was broken and glass was everywhere...and Rhodey wasn't home! And the door was unlocked!"

Tony gasped and another memory filled his mind. It was the camera's that he had set up around the house and the security that was also set up. It should have protected them from a break in. So how did they get pass them? Maybe they just found a weak spot or got pure lucky. But that didn't matter. What mattered was that his best buddy was most likely taken or kidnapped.

"Okay. I need to get home. I can most likely find where he is and go save him." Tony said.

"Tony I only came here to see if Rhodey had come here to visit you. I was going to call the police on the matter."

"Don't. I'll be better."

"How...?" She asked suspiciously. She had an idea that it involved his secret.

"um...yeah I guess you should know now." Tony said while scratching the back of his neck.

"Tony what are you doing?" Pepper asked appalled.

She was not expecting for Tony to give up his secret. His identity. But then again losing his memory left him confused and now he was about to give out his secret. But then again she could be wrong. He might just be talking about something else entirely.

"i am not the...uh...average person." Yep. She was wrong.

"What do you mean." Roberta pressed.

He took in a deep breath and thought it be best to get it out already. "You know Iron man right?"

She nods so he continues. "Well I...am...Iron Man."

**Okay so how was that for a chapter! i felt like i was targeting to much on Tony and decided to let Rhodey join the fun! Heehee! So please tell me how i did on this boring chapter. Sorry if it seems rushed or its missing something that should be there or something is added. That happens when it takes multiple days to type... -_-**


	8. what will happen next?

**Okay so it's been awhile, but here it is! O.o **

**I don't know how good of a chapter this is, but i got the idea from a friend and wanted to try it out. And i had to rewrite three times so yeah...but i really hope it isn't as bad as i think it is. The part with Rhodey i couldn't think of anything to do so i just put what it put and you'll have to read to find out. BUT what i am wondering is 'should i redo this chapter or should i leave it?' I don't know i was kinda nervous to post this cause i don't want to disappoint you guys! **

**Oh and SHout outs...**

**Finny-Kun Goddess-I'm working on it. :)**

**Carpetbakr-Sry i'm used to being told by my friends about the other stories i've wrote just on a note book that i wasnt good at it. so yea..**

**Marvel789-thanks!**

**UltraRed55- You rock too! I read your story and its really good!**

**And UnikDork- Thanks for all the questions and i tried to answer as much of your questions so be looking for those in the chapter and some may be unanswered. sry about that though. ^.0  
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**So please tell me if i should keep it or repost it. Also at the end i want to say some thing that you should also read and answer. So on with the story! Really hope it doesn't suck! But please tell the truth at whether or not you like it! Thankz!  
><strong>

Roberta stared wide eyed at Tony. Pepper did as well. _Why on earth would he give away his identity?_ Was all that was going through her mind. The only other thing running in her mind, was Rhodey and how he could be hurt while they sat there and just stressed about it. They had to get a plan and it had to work. They needed out of the hospital, but they needed Roberta to sign Tony out before they could do anything. But the look in Roberta's face was pure shock and nothing else. Well other than worry, but that was pretty covered up by her shock.

"Roberta please say something." Tony said.

"Your iron man?" She asked. Tony nodded in reply.

She thought of all the times he was gone and all the absences and all the tardies and of course all the visits to the hospital that seemed to happen more frequent lately. She thought of all those times she saw Tony turning his head away from her's to hid the wince. But now it all made sense. She had no idea what to make of it. Should she yell? Or should she let him be? Even if it meant letting himself hurt himself. But she shook the thought out of her mind. Right now, Rhodey needed their help and if it need Tony to use his armor to save him, then so be it. She wouldn't argue.

"Are you mad at me? Cause seriously I am sorry." Tony said and looked down as if he was shy she would make fun of him or something.

"I don't know. Honestly Rhodey needs our help and you can give. I won't complain." was her answer.

Tony was thinking awfully hard. He didn't know why he told her, but then again why _hadn't _he told her any sooner. Then maybe she could have banned him from being iron man and banned Rhodey from being War machine and possibly Rhodey would be safe and Tony wouldn't be in the hospital and Pepper wouldn't be in danger. Neither would Roberta, but Tony still had no idea whether or not he was banned from it. Just that Roberta seemed conflicted at what to react to this news. So far so good.

Now he realized why he told her. It was his identity that he just recently remembered over his best friend. Who would you choose? Again it was friends before self right? Rhodey was his best friend, Rhodey was the person who talked sense into him when he thought nonsense. He was the person who never turned his back on Tony or was always by his side. Even when Tony was shutting his friends out. Even when Tony seemed to be particularly mad and is taking it out on his friends. He tolerated Tony even when he was a arrogant jerk. He was always worried for him and no matter what never stopped cheering Tony up when he was down.

He was surprised how he knew all this but threw the surprise away and smiled to himself now that he knew just how much of a friend that Rhodey was and that Tony would give his life up for him If that was the last thing he did. He would make sure he was safe and that he knew that Tony appreciated him as a friend and that he really thought more of just himself and thought of others as well and that he could always be there for Tony when he needed him.

"good." He finally said with a firm voice. "But to save him I need out. I need to be released out of here"

She nodded. "Well then I'll be right back. It may be a while because paperwork and all and I would like some alone time..."

She walked over to the door and opened it and stepped outside leaving Tony and Pepper alone. To their own alone time. (Not like that!)

Pepper was thinking about all the things that they could do to help Rhodey and all they could do to keep him safe. But the million questions finally popped into her dead. What if he's dead? Is he hurt? Will he be okay? Who took him and why? What does this person want really? Does he want money? Is he/she after Tony, Iron man? She shook her head. No they can't have both. All she could do was hope that Rhodey and Tony were going to be alright. They had enough problems and this is just adding to them.

She turned to Tony who was sitting beside her. He was looking back at her with equal concern. Though his was more of _I put you in danger and now I must fix it. _Hers was more of a _I don't want you to get hurt and please be careful. _Both pretty much have to same meaning. But none of them really understood that real reason.

"Tony please don't do anything stupid." She said and hugged him.

"I won't try." He said as he wrapped his arms around her waist. She rested her head against his shoulder and she could hear the steady beat of his heart and the steady hum of his heart monitor. It calmed her for the moment. She looked up and smiled slightly. Tony looked down into her brown eyes and saw that they were smiling and he smiled back. She shifted so she was sitting up straighter and she was closer to his face.

Tony now realized something. Something he felt before. It was strong. It was a memory it was Pepper. All her and nothing else. He loved her and he would do anything to keep her safe. Just as he would for Rhodey. Except he didn't love Rhodey in the way he loved Pepper. But he always denied it knowing if his villains found out about his identity and somehow knew that the two were together they would do something to hurt her. But now he was determined to keep her safe and unharmed.

Together they gazed into each others eyes and leaned in. Both were expecting a doctor or Roberta to barge in and tell then that this was wrong. That they shouldn't kiss, but they should be working to get better or save Rhodey. But they didn't care. And nobody came to say otherwise to them.

So when their lips met just barely as if just testing to see who it would be to interrupt them and nobody came, they pushed together more firmly. It was _not _a very intense kiss, but they stayed like that for who knows how long and finally parted. None of them said anything. Both acted like they didn't care for what happened and it wasn't a shock. Tony hugged her again as she laid her head against his shoulder and he tightened his grip.

"Pepper."

"Hmm?"

"i think I remember."

She shot up and stared at him. "Remember what?"

"Not all of it. But I remember how I felt. Feel, my bad. You."

She smiled in relief and sat back not wanting to take chances of being caught. For now, they'd keep it as secret as they could make it. They made that silent agreement. They don't know how or when, but they just did. And until Rhodey was safe. They intended to keep it that way. So for now as it was a secret they had to act as if nothing had happened. At all.

A few minutes later Yinsen stepped in and flashed the light in Tony's eyes after he told him what to do. He nodded and checked something off on his clipboard. Roberta had also walked in and was rubbing Pepper's back for comfort. Yinsen nodded and smiled. "You're all set! You can go after you get a good drink of water."

Tony nodded in relief. He didn't want to wait long. He couldn't. Just couldn't. Rhodey was in danger and he was not going to let anything happen to him without him doing something to help him. He would do everything in his will to keep him alive. Everything and anything. For everyone and not just for himself. He wasn't the only one that cared for him. But for the moment Tony was the only one who could save him.

So Tony walked out of the room with a sigh and walked to the water fountain he used the other day. He got up and the three made their way out of the hospital that Tony has been in plenty of times and out to save Rhodey. They all hoped that he was okay...

* * *

><p>(With...Rhodey!)<p>

Rhodey groaned as he opened his eyes and rubbed the back of his head while sitting up. He looked around. He was in a large room. It was wooden and almost cabin like. But it was empty. The room was dark and the only light was through the cracks in the wall. A green light did illuminate the wall, but that was only from the large clock that said it was 7:15 A.M.

He frowned. He was out for a pretty long time.._Wait! Where am I? _He pressed his hands on the ground and pushed himself up off the ground. He turned around making sure that there wasn't anyone or anything in the room. He sighed in half relief that there wasn't, but still was cautious about where he was.

There was a door on one end and a poster on the other end. It was just a bunch of random words from a distance, but he walked up closer to it and his frown deepened. It wasn't just a bunch of random words. It was a ton of words that made sense. Too much sense. It was a lot to take in when you just wake up. On the poster it said, _targets._ Under it was a list. A list of names and a lot of them looked familiar. _Tony, Pepper, Roberta, Whitney, Happy, Mr. Klein, and a few others that were from school._ He recognized some, but others he didn't. But the either way if he knew them or not, he knew it couldn't be good that they were on this poster. He was even on it. But it was circled and crossed off as well as: Whitney, Happy, and Mr. Klein and a few others.

He stood there just staring at the black and white poster as he realized that Tony, Pepper, and Roberta were circled. He had no idea what that meant. He assumed that the crossed off ones were meaning that they already have them or just gave up on them, and the circled ones were next. But that meant that they had Whitney and Happy. They were now going after Tony and Pepper. And...his mom.

He closed his eyes just as the door opened and he spun around shocked. He expected to see someone that would come in and try to intimidate him and explain something, but still it shocked him all the same. But when he faced who ever it was that came in he was even more shocked that it was a woman and not that women couldn't kidnap people, but he remembered that anyone could do anything really. If they set their minds on it and apparently her's is set on this.

She smiled as if the two were old friends that were just meeting together again. "Good your finally awake! I was about to splash some water on you."

She walked in and stood at his side and looked at the poster that Rhodey was just looking at. "I know. This isn't fun. But I need your help."

"Help?" Rhodey asked completely confused.

"Yes. You see I am trying to find and capture Iron Man to find out who he is. But I've heard rumors that he got in a pretty bad accident and hasn't been iron man for awhile. He keeps sending out that War Machine guy. But then he shows up yesterday out of random to save this Tony Stark and this other girl known as Pepper."

She pauses and turns from the poster and looks at Rhodey. "Iron man was sighted to have come out of the forest, but ever since then he hasn't been seen. He normally flies around or is fighting crime or something needs help. But if he has recovered from what ever it was that made him pause at being iron man, then where is he now?"

She waited for an answer. But none came. "Your another one of those people that don't know who he is huh. But you were one of those people that came out of that forest and nobody saw you go in. You must have seen iron man. Did he say anything to you?"

"No not really." Rhodey replied. He really shouldn't be talking to her. He should remain silent.

"But all heroes say something to people. Like 'be careful' or 'stay out of trouble' or even a 'are you alright?' come on. You can tell me."

"He didn't say nothing _to _us."

"but he had to have said something while he was there." She pressed.

"Yes...it was something like 'Ghost!' then he attacked Ghost."

She sighed. "I guess that's enough. You aren't going to speak so I have no choice to put you with the others until I get the other people. Who knows maybe they'll join you!"

With a wave of her hand and a stomp of her foot, the floor below Rhodey's feet gave out creating a long hole that lead somewhere below. He fell with a shout and after a few short seconds he landed on a hard floor with a _thud._ He stretched and got up while looking around. It was even more dark in the room and a few sounds were made before hands grabbed him and pulled him to the part of the place that had lights. In the lighted area was Whitney, Happy, Mr. Klein, and a few others that he both knew and didn't know.

"Rhodey?" Whitney asked.

He nodded. "How's Tony been?"

"He's fine. But their after him too. As well as Pepper and my...mom"

She gasped. "Why are they doing this? She only told me it was all part of the ordeal here and that they had a mission that they had to complete. Do you know what it is?"

"Yeah it's to find out who Iron man is. She asked me if I had any idea who he was. She wanted my help."

"Did you give it to her?"

He shook his head. "So how long have all you guys been here?"

"I was here first." Whitney said. "Mr. Klein was here next, then Happy and the others came in one by one after that. We all came here around 4 Am."

"wow. So what are all your guys' names?"

"Elaina."

"Gigi."

"Mason."

"Luke"

They all stated their name in a bored manner. They all sounded deflated and sad. But Rhodey didn't want to let the kidnappers know that they got him down. "I'm Rhodey."

Then he remembered something. His hand went to his pocket. He still had his phone! If Tony had any idea that he was gone, then he'd be able to track him. If he remembered how to do that. Just hopefully he did. It would save their lives.

"Rhodey?"

"My phone!" He whispered quietly. "If Tony remembers he could help us. Unless he gets caught before that...too bad that my phone doesn't have signal down here..."

Happy took that moment to speak up. "So Stark doesn't remember anything still?"

Rhodey sighed. "Yes and no. He remembers a few things, but his mind is still fuzzy."

"Jeez stark!" Happy remained silent.

"So Rhodey where is Tony?" Mr. Klein asked.

"um.. at the moment he should be at the hospital still, but if mom found out about that I'm gone she would have told him and he would have probably left the hospital. Hopefully he didn't do it prison break style again..."

They all looked at him funny. "Whats prison break style?" Whitney asked.

"uh...it was that one time Tony was in the hospital for a week and the next day he had me and Pepper help him break out of the hospital."

They all nodded. They then stopped talking. Nobody was really in the mood for talking anymore. They just wished that someone would help them and hopefully soon. None wanted to find out what happened if you were there for to long. It was just something that nobody wanted. This day was just such a shock and everybody was still recovering from it and was hoping that they were still sleeping and were now dreaming a horrible dream. But they also knew that despite their wishes and thoughts, this was realer than a lot of things.

* * *

><p>(With Tony and them)<p>

They drove home as fast as they could. They drove in silence. Tony was still thinking what he should do and what might happen when he did do it. But most of those thoughts and plans were shook off and rendered useless. He just stuck to his first plan and hoped that he could move forward with that one. But of course in his memories that he has so far, he didn't get much luck with that kind of thing. But maybe just maybe he had his phone.

They pulled into the driveway and ran out Tony ran to Rhodey's room to look for Rhodey's phone, but couldn't find it. Not under his bed or desk. Not in any dresser. No where. So he just grabbed his back pack and slipped into it. Roberta and Pepper were standing outside waiting for Tony. But they heard the sound or foot steps and turned thinking it was Tony, but they were wrong. It was a group of people in hoods that held guns. Just pistol's but still a gun to flesh was fatal most of the time.

They shouted something that they couldn't make out what it was saying and they hit them in the back of the head before they could see anything. Instantly the two were out cold on the floor with a few people dragging them to the van.

"Take them I'll get Stark." One man yelled and ran to the house with no other word.

Tony was stepping out of the hallway that led into the kitchen when he saw that a man was in the front door. His eyes widened and before he did anything else ran at the man and shoved him to the ground thinking nothing of himself getting away, but to see what happened to the girls that were outside. He was just about to turn into Iron man when he didn't see them when someone hit him in the back of the head. Then all he saw was stars before he blacked out.

"Got him." The man said and put his gun in his belt. He pulled his arms around Tony and lifted and brought him to the van.

It was a pretty long drive and the three woke up one by one. They weren't hit as bad as Rhodey was. Roberta was first and she looked around and saw the other two toppled over each other lazily. She moved them so they were more comfortable. Soon enough they were both up.

"What happened?" Tony asked.

"I don't know. But I have a feeling that this is what happened to Rhodey." Pepper said.

Roberta paled as she heard that this was most likely what had happened to her son. She didn't like this. So how did her son take it. Is he hurt? Is he all alone in a cellar? But she knew her son. If anything he was strong and brave so if they were trying to break him to get him to give out information, then they wouldn't get it. At least no for a while. Which made her proud. Her son was a lot like her. And his father. Who was always gone on his job.

"I hope he's alright." she said.

Tony nodded. Then frowned. He needed to charge his heart soon. But when? He checked his watch and sighed. He had about 5 hours left. He would have had less time, but he didn't move a lot in the past day and a half. But still it just depends on how long they are there for.

"He'll be fine" Pepper said at last.

"I know I'm a mom and I'm just worried." Roberta replied.

They sit in silence and the van comes to a stop after a while. They are each dragged out and pushed towards a small building. They had no idea where they were, but it was definitely in the country. It was full of trees and hills were everywhere around the building. They looked around, but there wasn't a building in sight. Except for the one that was right in front of them. They were lead into the building and it was empty except for the clock on the wall and a poster.

A woman stood by it. She turned around and when she saw who it was she smiled. "Glad you could join me."

Nobody spoke. "Please all of you out. Not you three though." She signaled for her men to leave and they nodded and left.

"You all know why your here?"

"No." Tony answered for the other two.

"No? So then I'll have to tell you as well. I'm looking for help. I need help finding out who iron man is. You see if I want to get higher power and a better place to have more guests in I need Iron man gone. One way is to identify him and kill him. Let New York know that he is dead and can't be helped. I know I could just go to some other place, but I've had my eyes on this one place, but it would get me noticed to well. And if I don't want that I need to get rid of the hero."

They all stared at her. They could fix this if they just gave Tony away. But of course they wanted to get out of there with everybody alive. So they remained silent and they wouldn't say anything. They couldn't it wouldn't be right. So they said nothing.

"So can any of you help me. Lets say that you know who it is or know someone that knows..." She paused waiting for an answer. "No? Well you guys were the last on my list. Though some of them were just to get other people to talk. Like you Tony. Or Pepper or Rhodey. So you'll join them and lets see what happens next."

She stomped her foot and the gave away under their feet and all three of them fell to the ground. They all groaned and untangled themselves from each other and they heard foots steps and then the footsteps got louder and the three backed away farther into the darkness. But hands grabbed them and pulled them to a brighter spot. They sighed in relief. It was Rhodey who had cam and got them along with Whitney. In they room was Mr. Klein, the teacher, Happy, Whitney and Rhodey of course and a few others from school along with some new people. The three sat down and Roberta hugged her son tightly.

"Mom I'm fine. But how'd you get here?" Rhodey asked.

Roberta told them the story and Tony told him his. They left out the Iron man part. They didn't want to give that away unless they really had to. They had to try to get out with out the armor before they gave it away. That would give them a plan and time. Hopefully. They were still cautious about what that woman was talking about when she sent them down there. They were the last on the list maybe now she'll kill them and start a new list.

They didn't know, but they just had to wait and see...

**Terrible ending. But remember to tell me whether or not that i should repost this or keep it. I was thinking about have Gene save them or something because he wanted help with finding the 9th ring or something and he followed Tony and them, Should i! I really want to know cause i'm going to unless you guys don't want me to. So if you say otherwise i'll put something else to get them out of there, but if it goes that way an update may be slow to come...**

**Anyways...I also have been working up a plan for a new fanfic, but i'm not starting it until this story is done and maybe some other story...and one of my story's is being canceled but none of you should be concerned for it. its nothing. BUt i just said this because i don't want to forget it and i want it typed down somewhere so i don't forget. **

**Review?**


	9. heart and help

**Ohmygosh! Another chapter! Well this one is a bit long, but i hope it's good. One thing though. I know he has his armor with him, but he would never use it in front of or near People at least my version of him. But i was just trying this out and if you don't like it then sorry just tell me and i can fix it. I explain more at the end of the chapter.**

**Its the return of somebody we should all know and i got the idea from UnikDork. But i didn't use their entire idea, but i kinda wrote this badly. i don't know if you understand what i mean, but i totally forgot last chapter that i was going to have the woman take Tony's back pack from him for some reason and i forgot! Again i forgot this chapter too, but i ended up using at the end of the chapter. And I also forgot that his armor can charge his heart so yeah i feel kinda stupid, but i did my best at the end to fix it. And The woman you know who she is and she is OOC-ish. I tried using her well but she is hard to write. But i TRIED! and it is kinda confusing at the end i know. I feel horrible for actually posting this chapter, but due to my grandma being really sick and me hurting my back, i might not update til next week, but there will be a couple more chapters. Maybe a lot more. I dunno yet. Just til this part is over i'll figure out what to do.  
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**I own nothing~i need to say that more. Plz remind me? Well this chapter although i think its absolutely horrible and feel bad that it was posted and i just wanted to give it out, but if it doesn't work out for you just tell me and i'll rewrite the chapter and remember those things this time! But if you think i fixed it up enough, Then i'll leave it be. BUT pleeeaaassseee understand that i am under a lot of stress right now and i am not thinking straight so i might just do a whole bunch of updating this weekend and i might stop posting updates for a week. MAYBE longer. BUT don't hate me. You also gotta know what stress feels like and i am under a lot of it. I'm seriously sorry if it takes that long but i need a break sooner or later.  
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**Thnx!  
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The entire group stayed quiet for hours. There was only small talk and questions. But Tony being Tony didn't listen to anything and just tuned them out. But this time it was for something far more different. Maybe worse. Okay it was worse. He couldn't stop thinking about it. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't stop worrying about it. But as time passed he accepted it and decided not to tell anyone. It wouldn't help the situation. What was the matter really? It was the fact that his heart would fail in a little bit less than 3 hours. Yep they were down there for about 2 hours.

But the loneliness didn't last. For two more people joined them. But that wasn't it. Two men came through the darkness just after Pepper directed the new people to the light. They looked around and spotted who they wanted and began to walk forward again. They stopped just as they got close to the actual group.

"Anthony Stark. You are to come with us." The tallest man said.

Everyone looked at Tony uneasily. He unwillingly stood up. He already was tired out, but was definitely strong enough. He would remain strong for his family and these innocent people who were being put in danger. After all this women wanted Iron Man. But he had to see all the ways he could escape with out putting anyone in danger. That's why he hadn't changed into iron man yet.

As soon as he stepped out into the open he was yanked towards the man that spoke and he was roughly dragged out in a door that was unknown because of the darkness. He had to check that out when he returned. The door led into yet another dark room. He was pushed blindly into the room and he tripped on something and fell to the ground scrapping his chin. He got up only to be pushed down on his knees. _How can they see?_ But then he thought that over and remembered all the tech in the world and that there was a few things that had allowed you to see in the dark.

There was a flash and a bright white light filled the small room. But in the room was the woman. But this time he got a good look at her. She wasn't the woman she was thought to be. She was paled skinned and young. She had black hair and dark eyes. She was tall, but small framed. It was Rhona. The female one of the twins that Tony had remembered. But he didn't remember anything other than the fact that her brother was an android. But now images passed through his mind.

Pepper tied up to a pole. Rhodey strapped down on a table surrounded by numbers with a saw blade above him. Happy in a chair with some kind of helmet. Whitney in a chamber like cylinder. He remembered earlier that day he had chased the Maggia. He remembered the two twins laughing and teasing him about his dad.

The men that dragged him in there were gripping his shoulders so he couldn't stand to get away.

He frowned and she smiled and laughed that maniac laugh of hers. "Hello Anthony!"

"What do you want?" He asked.

"You know what I want. And your the only person that I know other than myself that could make that armor. Iron man is you isn't it?"

"I-i don't know what you are talking about." He lied.

"Save it!" she snapped.

She turned around and picked up something and turned to face Tony again. In her hands was a small bleaker of water. She turned it in circles as if she was examining it. Some water dripped out and splashed on the ground. She smiled menacingly. But Tony only stared at her as if she was insane. Well she was. But he didn't understand why she was holding that bleaker of water.

"Anthony. I know your iron man. Just admit it. And nothing will happen." She said.

He eyed the bleaker that she was holding out still examining it. He shifted his gaze and glared at her with determination.

She sighed. "I really wished it wouldn't come to this."

She walked closer to him with a smirk. "You know what. I might enjoy it."

With a flick of her hand, water was splashed out and as if in slow motion it went flying onto Tony's chest. Tony gasped now knowing why she was holding that bleaker. It was for his heart monitor. To get him to speak. On the contact with the water, his heart monitor zapped him wildly. He wasn't killed. No, but the pain was enough to wish for death. He let out a scream. He clutched at his chest as if that would calm the pain. His body stopped moving involuntarily and he again glared at her with the most deadly glare he could manage through the pain.

There was a rapid beeping and buzzing of his watch thing. He looked at what it said and it read: [heart energy falling rapidly. Recommend recharge.] His eyes widened. He was most likely not going to have that 3 hours. He rubbed his hand over his shirt trying to dry it off. But it was no use. So he just held the shirt away from his heart monitor and looked back at a pleased looking Rhona.

"I figured that it wasn't waterproof. Lucky wasn't I? Well Anthony, What will it be?"

(Out side the room just after Tony left)

Rhodey sighed. He watched as Pepper and Whitney and of course Happy left to follow the men that just rudely dragged Tony away. As he shook his head he got up to follow them. He didn't want them to be alone if they were caught. So he went to find the three that had already gotten pretty far. They were hot on the men's trail. He almost bumped into Happy when he had stopped. There was the sound of a door opening and closing and the clicking of the locks.

At different spots of the door they pressed one of their ears to the door straining to hear what was going on. It was all muffled so they couldn't understand it, but they heard the all so familiar laugh of Rhona. Their eyes widened due to the fact that they both knew that Rhona was planning her revenge on Tony. But they all still listened. It was a little less than one minute that they heard the scream. It was muffled, but still it was loud.

The adults that were left behind also heard the screams and recognized Tony's voice. They all gasped loudly. _What was going on?_

Pepper had to bite her lip to stop herself from crying or yelling for them to stop whatever it was that they were doing to Tony. But knowing if they knew that they were being listened to, they wouldn't just be hurting Tony. Plus they may even hurt him more. So she kept her mouth shut. But she also wondered why he hadn't changed into iron man and prevented what it was that harmed him.

Then the dull sound of loud beeping and buzzing sounded and she knew exactly what it was. His heart monitor coming close to dying out. Rapidly if she remembered correctly. Hopefully she didn't and that the buzzing wasn't his wrist watch and was something that perhaps Rhona had. The sound of talking resumed and no one understood what it was saying so they gave up so they didn't get caught.

So they returned to sitting with the others who asked what they knew and what happened. Rhodey to his best ability explained what happened and they sighed in defeat knowing that they would just have to continue to wait.

But the more they waited the more screams they heard...

(Back with Tony)

He gasped for air. His limited air and he had to continually shut off his watch that kept warning him that his heart would fail soon if he took any more water to his chest or shocks from the taser gun that she happened to have. He wouldn't speak. Actually now, couldn't speak due to her getting mad that none of her attempts to get him to speak wasn't working and she punched him in the side of his neck causing him to be unable to speak for the moment.

"Speak you Dolt!" She yelled.

He just held his neck and shook his head. But with his free hand he raised up his hand signaling the 'one second' sign. So she tapped her shoe on the ground showing her impatience. He swallowed hard and took a deep breath.

"Why? Why do you want me to speak?" He asked. Now he was stalling. For no specific reason just was.

She threw her hands up in frustration and glared at the teen genius. "I said tell me that your Iron man. That's what I meant to say."

"Is that so?" Tony said with a slight smile.

She kicked him in the face with the heel of her shoe making a cut show up on his cheek bone, now there was blood slowly finding its way down his face. He ignored it.

"Yes!" She shouted. "Are you or are you not Iron Man!"

"Why do you want to know?"

"He killed my brother!"

"He never was your brother. He was an android." Tony said with equal rage.

"No he was. You'll never understand sibling until you have one!"

"I do have one. And he at least is human!" He shot back.

"Rhodey isn't your real brother!" She snapped.

"Yeah neither was Andy to you." He said.

"He may be an android, but I loved him and you had to go and kill him!"

He paused. _You killed him..._ he thought. He just now caught on that she was blaming him for the death of her brother. But he couldn't remember when he _killed _Andy. He knew his name, surprisingly. He remembered only bits and pieces about the twins. But he didn't remember killing him. At all. In fact now he was losing his memories. The ones he recovered were dwindling down. But he tried to hold on to some of those memories. It was hard enough to get them back in the first place. He didn't want to do it again.

"I didn't kill him" He said now calmly.

"Yes iron man did. You are iron man."

"No I am not." He said weakly. His heart was close to dead. He checked his watch. One and a half hours left and that would surely fall if he got anymore water on his heart monitor.

"Fine. We'll just see if the others will speak." She was about to dismiss them.

"Wait!" Tony yelled.

"You have something to say?"

"Yes. I am...iron man."

"Knew it. I should finish you off right here and right now. But according to that little watch of yours, you don't have much time anyways." She said and then she waved her hands and the men that kept Tony on his knees yanked him up and unlocked the locked door. They threw him out and locked the door again. Tony smashed into the wall, but remained silent. He just slid to the ground weakly.

Before his friends could find him he wondered off in the opposite direction of the lighted room where the rest were. He followed the hallway while bracing himself against the wall to keep himself from falling to the ground. His hand grasped at the wall searching for some kind of door. After a few minutes, his hands ran into a door knob. With a shaky hand he twisted it and it opened. It was unlocked. He stepped inside not bothering to shut the door. In case this was a trap and when the door closed he'd be trapped.

In the room it was small. It was lit by a small lantern. Old fashioned but still modern. He turned it around and saw that the room was filled to the brim with mirrors. It had a single desk in it that took up little space in the little room. He sighed and moved forward at his reflection. He knew it wasn't going to be pretty. Nor was it was pleasant sight to see. He was looking at his feet until he was only inches from a body length mirror. Slowly and cautiously He gasped.

His cheek was filled with dry blood, under his eyes were dark shadows that were obvious, and his eyes were a very dull blue. Almost a gray. His eyes were sacked and his shirt was damp. It was drying up a bit and so he took off his shirt and pressed it against his jeans to dry it off faster. He held it there for a moment and twisted it and pressed it back on his jeans for one last dry. He tested it and looked at it to see if it showed anything about him getting his heart monitor wet. He didn't want them to worry anymore then they already were. It wouldn't be good. But after he was done with that he was just about to throw it on, when he noticed his chest in the mirror. It had burns all around the heart monitor that just like his eyes wasn't glowing that much and was a very dull and faded blue. His neck had a pretty big bruise on it. He was just lucky she didn't kill him. At least not yet. He shook his head and put his shirt all the way on.

He looked at himself. He could hide it if he kept his head down. Nobody would know or find out that his heart was failing. They wouldn't see the cut, they wouldn't see the fading light in his eyes, they wouldn't see anything. Just that he was upset. That they could handle more than knowing that he was hurt. Or even dying. But Rhodey and Pepper had to know that this was inevitable since the beginning. But now that he thinks about it. He didn't remember much about Rhodey or Pepper anymore. The weakness of his heart was lowering his memory down again. But if he made it through which he knew he wouldn't, he could probably regain those memories pretty quickly. Hopefully.

But he just sighed sadly and walked weakly back out of the room and closed the door behind him. He walked numbly down the hallway and listened for any sounds. He heard a distant he crept up closer and strained his ears to listen.

"-his heart?" A unfamiliar voice said.

"Yeah. It was his watch going off telling him he had to recharge soon." Rhodey's voice sounded this time.

"Well what happens if he doesn't charge it?" A new voice said.

"His heart fails and that would be...the end of Tony..." Rhodey replied upset.

"Its okay honey." Roberta's soothing voice sounded. "He'll be okay and so will you."

It became silent again and tony took that as he was welcome to come. Though he knew he was always welcome here. Everyone was. He kept his head down as he planned. He stepped into the light and yawned tiredly. It was getting really cold. Colder than it already was. He dropped his backpack that he just remembered he had on and the noise caused everyone to look over startled.

Pepper was the first to get up. She ran into Tony and gave him a wild hug. He winced and in instinct he groaned in pain as her body pressed up against his burned chest. But even though he wished and hoped that she hadn't heard it, she noticed it alright. Instantly she backed away.

"What's wrong? Your hurt aren't you?" She asked in a scared voice.

He was still looking down. "No. I'm fine." He lied.

"I heard you! Don't lie to me!" She demanded.

"Fine. Just a little. Happy?"

She shook her head. "No. They hurt you. I'll never be happy because of that. Can I see?"

Although she couldn't see him, his eyes widened in fear. He wasn't all that afraid of her figuring out that he was burned pretty bad, but he didn't want her to see the dim light of the heart monitor. It only got that dim if it was close to dying. He racked his brain for an excuse that she should buy. Then he remembered the bruise on his neck.

"I guess." He shifted not letting her see his cheek and pointed at his neck where the large bruise was. She looked at it and slightly gasped. But she wasn't convinced. She didn't even touch that side of his neck. Actually she didn't even touch his neck. But she knew he wouldn't tell her the truth. At least not with so many people he wont. So she just patted him on the chest and he flinched. She looked at him with realization.

"No. It can't be." She reached down to pull his shirt up but Tony jumped back falling down. Now he was in the shadows again and you could hardly see him. Just his legs. "Tony stop being so childish! Its your heart monitor isn't it!"

He got up and back away to the darkness but remained near. "No. Its just not pretty. Seriously when I saw I almost [cough] got sick all over the floor. And Rhona's shoes.." He was uneasy about Rhona. She somehow knew about his heart monitor. Not many people know about that. So how does she?

"Please Tony tell the truth." Pepper begs.

He winced. He didn't want her to beg. It pushed him to the verge of crying and breaking down. But he didn't want to be scared of her of death. It was something that would have happened anyways. He got lucky (or unlucky) that it was sped up. He thought of it as less time to suffer. But that was not what he was worried about. What if he died and Rhona had nothing else to do but kill all evidence of this place ever existing and she would kill all the captives?

He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. It was caught in his throat. But he managed it after a moment. "I am. Pep please I just want to rest. I'm not lying. [cough] sorry."

She looked down. He sounded so sad. But she caught something in his voice. _Please I just want to rest..._ rest was another way to put die. Death... She gasped. "Tony! NO!"

"What is it Pepper?" Rhodey asked placing a relaxing hand on her shoulder as she sobbed.

"Pep. I'm sorry everything's fine. I swear. Just a punch in the throat can [cough] make me tired. Please just let me lay down and sleep." Tony asked pleading.

"I won't let you die." She snapped.

You can hear the sound of his steps as he stepped back in surprise. "What?"

"You heard me. I know your dying. _What did they do to you?"_ She demanded and pulled him out of the shadows.

He was looking down and away. She spotted that he seemed to be hiding something. She furrowed her eyebrows in concern and grabbed his chin to direct him to look at her. "Look at me and tell me, _What __did they do to you?"_

He fought against her pull. He didn't want her to see his eyes. This light was better than the other light he first say his eyes. So she'll see them clear as day. The dullness of them. She'd see just how pale he was. She would see the droopiness of his eyes and the dark shades under his eyes. She'd see the parts of the blood that he didn't get. She'd see just how close to death he was. She was smart enough to understand.

She just tugged hard. He gave in slightly. He was now just looking down. But that made his neck ache really bad so he tilted his head in the direction to where Pepper was pulling. Allowing her to get full sight of just how bad his condition really was. She gasped loud enough for everyone to hear. (she gasps a lot) The ones that had let their attention drift from the two teens that were arguing over ones health.

She looked first at the cut that was on his cheek. Her eyes were wide. It was smeared showing that Tony had tried wiping it off. She already noticed how pale his skin was. It was so ghost like. His skin was already a bit cold. She saw the large shadows under his eyes that almost looked like her had a black eye. But this was no black eye. His eyes sagged. But that didn't hide the faded blue eyes. The eyes that are normally electric blue or bright blue, but now it was gray blue. Just a little bit more blue. Tears welled up in her eyes. She wanted to see what was really under his shirt. But she had a better plan for that one... she then noticed his left eye had a sort of twitch to it.

He was looking away from her eyes and all the other prying eyes. He just wanted to sit down in the open corner and lay his head down and rest. But Pepper wouldn't let him. He sighed and grabbed her hand from his chin. He pressed his palms down on her shoulders and scooted her over a bit so he could pass. He was gonna rest if it was the last thing he did. But it probably was the last thing he every did.

But before he could go away to his corner to sleep, Pepper got on her tip toes and kissed him lightly. She didn't care at all that they were being watched. She knew as well as Rhodey and Roberta and possibly, Whitney, but she doubted that. His eyes widened, but said nothing. He took a shaky breath and looked at his watch. He frowned. 50 minutes left. Not that long. So instead of going instantly to his corner he gave all his friends hugs and Pepper one last kiss just in case. **(Yeah I know. You've seen that before) **

He finally sat down and instantly after his eyes closed he drifted off into a deep sleep. Deeper than any other sleep he every slept. Pepper waited for a few minutes before deciding to check Tony with the other teens. They lowered him down to his back, since they knew he was such a hard sleeper in the first place it didn't take gentleness. He laid down on his back breathing short and shallow breaths. She checked his watch. 43 minutes. She frowned. So did the others. She hadn't realized that it was this bad. But at least this wasn't exact. It was just timed for when you should charge then it gives you an hour or so before the heart actually fail. So yeah they had a bit more time. But according to Dr. Yinsen, if he ever got to that point, then he'd be in agonizing pain. She hadn't wanted that.

But she let his watch and his hand fall to the ground with a slap. Her hand was trembling violently as she reached towards the bottom of his shirt. She didn't know why, but it just did. She raised it up slowly just passing his bellybutton and so far so good. He hand sometimes hit Tony's stomach but she ignored that and kept pulling up. The teens all watched in wonder to what was so bad that Tony didn't want them to see. Roberta and Mr. Klein were watching from their spots in the room. She lifted the last part up and she couldn't even gasp. It wasn't bad. It was scary. There was tons of burn marks just above his rib cage and all around his heart monitor. It was a pretty bad burn. That wasn't the only thing. It was the dim, low pulsating, glow of the heart monitor. It was so dull. So dark. It was as if it really was already dead. But the watch said otherwise. But she sighed when she heard its hum.

"Wow. I didn't think it was really this bad." Rhodey said.

Pepper nor Whitney could speak. Pepper because she loved Tony and Whitney because Tony was her only friend even though he was a jerk when he dated her, but he was still her only real friend. They didn't like seeing Tony hurt so much.

"I thought he was just lying about it b-being this b-bad..." Pepper finally stuttered out and quickly covering him back up.

They sat back and away from Tony. Rhodey gasped in surprise. He just remembered something. Which kind of made him feel like they were all idiots. Actually they kinda were. Iron Man...

"I got a plan. Sort of." Rhodey said proudly.

"what?" Whitney asked.

"Tony's backpack." Rhodey said grabbing at it. But just as he got there a flash came and he was thrown into the wall next to Tony hitting his elbow pretty hard on the cement and her could have swore that he heard a cracking sound. He winced as the searing pain spread through out his arm.

His vision blurred. Only because he also hit his head a bit. He blinked out stars and fuzzy vision to see non other than Gene Khan and Howard Stark themselves.

Pepper didn't pay attention to what ever that flash was. She just ran to wake up Tony. She shook his shoulder. He didn't respond in anyway. She shook him harder. No response. Her hands shook. She lifted his head that was facing away to find it pale. Paper white. She checked for a pulse. She almost cried in joy. There was one. But he was still pretty weak. She shook him slapped him and after no response she poked his burned chest through his shirt. He let out a short scream. Everyone including the two new ones looked over in shock.

Pepper turned around. "It's alright! I just did that to wake him!" She yelled to let them know that he wasn't really hurt anymore than he already was. But she nearly froze when she saw who it was that came. Gene and Howard Stark.

Howard blinked as he cleared his vision from the transport. Once that was done, he noticed a few people. Roberta, James, Whitney, and a bunch of others. Rhodey was cradling his elbow that must be injured. But where was Tony he looked around when he noticed that Whitney and Two other teens were leaning over something and the one with red hair did something that created a loud scream. Howard widened his eyes. _Son._ He's hurt. In pain.

The red head spins around "It's alright! I just did that to wake him!" She yelled and froze as she looked Howard in the eyes. But the scream didn't stop.

"Um... Pepper...? Should this be happening?" The big teen called.

The girl (pepper) Spun around again. "Tony? No no no no no!" A loud buzzing sounded and Pepper ducked down to look at something. "Rhodey the armor! It has to charge him up! WHY ON EARTH DID WE NOT NOTICE THAT!" She screeched.

Rhodey ran past Gene and grabbed the armor again. And pulled it over to Tony. Pepper lifted Tony in her arms supporting him under the arms. Howard shook. He was scared for his son. For his life. He didn't know at all what was going on. Just that Tony seemed to be dying and they had the obvious help for that. The 'armor'. He watched as his son struggled to stay standing even with the help. He also shook with shudders though. The buzzing started up again.

"Rhodey hurry up and get it on him! His heart dropped majorly when Gene came. It was already low enough. HURRY!" Pepper yelled.

Rhodey finally managed to get it on and jammed his fingers on the circle part and the Iron Man armor wrapped around him instantly. Once it was on he was to heavy for Pepper and she ended up dropping him. Rhodey looked on his phone to see Tony's status at the moment. It stated that he was charging and the computer spoke through his phone,

"User Tony Stark, charging. Complete charge in 11.5 hours. Recommend lots of rest. WARNING, user has damage to lungs. Armor working on it."

That was the most that computer had ever said to anyone other than Tony. Tony always had full blown conversations with it. But they were just glad that he was charging. And Pepper and Rhodey were majorly mad at themselves for not thinking about doing that sooner. Sometimes its not just Tony that's clueless. But then again they didn't know that Tony's heart was that close to failing so they didn't have the biggest head start.

Everyone including Howard stared with the widest eyes at Tony- iron man. Howard smiled. His son invented that. He was proud. Though this is probably why Gene hates him. Howard knew that Iron Man was Genes worst enemy. But now that he figured this out he noticed that they were worst enemies, but the best companions when it came to the Makluan rings.

Nobody expected that they had Iron man here with them. They definitely didn't see it coming that it was Tony Stark. But there thoughts were interrupted by the clicking of shoes on the floor and they all sat down. Even Howard and Gene who wanted to see what was really going on.

A girl walked in. It was Rhona of course. She was staring right at Tony who lay on the floor now unconscious. Rage filled her face. "That's it. In only a matter of hours you will all pay for your actions of helping Anthony live!"

**Bad ending huh? Well i tried to fix my mistake in forgetting about the armor. I have a ton on my mind and stuff i already told you that. BUT tell me if you like it or if you don't. I really need to know cause really to be completely honest i think i'll redo it. I'm gonna type the rewrite of this chapter as soon as i can just in case you don't like it and you want me to replace it. So yeah. I really am Truly sorry for the bad chapter. I only really posted it, to ask if it was good or bad, cause i took a while to write this. Okay it took me about 7 hours maybe longer. So yeah..And you'd think that spending so much time on something you wouldn't forget anything, but really on my standards, the faster i go the easier it is to remember so yeah... SORRY ABOUT THAT! just wanted to hear you honest opinion! Thnx and Reviewing would be awefully nice. It will encourage me to work through everything. ^.^ **

**It was rushed in the end. Just a fair warning.  
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	10. pay back and punishments

**Okay so i updated sooner than i thought i would. But i got through it mostly. So i updated this one. I was going to update something else, but there was confusion in this one and wanted to fix that fast. Hopefully this answers the confusion. Hopefully. THanks for helping me get through it so quickly. Though still i might be done updating this story for a while so i can get updated on my other stories next week. Here's some shout outs to you! Thanks to all of you!****  
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**UltraRed- Thanks! I will~i kinda have, but not fully.  
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**Marvel- Heres the next chapter for you, THanks!  
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**UnikDork- THANK YOU! Oh and i didn't rewrite it. and i hope this answers it more clearly, but probably not.  
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**Carpetbakr- Yea i like those two as well. Thanks for the boost. you really helped me THANKS!  
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**All- Thanks for reading this far! You really keep me posting.  
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**So yea. I hope this chapter isn't confusing. It shouldn't but we're all different. I tried to make it as good as i could, so yea. i'm going to think on the bright side today and say that i did good on this chapter. But thats up to you if you like it.  
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Pepper dragged Tony to the wall to where he leaned against it still unconscious. Then she remembered that Gene was here. With Howard. She got up quickly and ran up to Gene.

"What do you want Gene?" She asked. She wasn't being mean about it. She still wished that he was still good.

"I need help." He replied calmly.

"Yeah that's exactly what Rhona said and if you noticed, look what happened to Tony." Rhodey cut in.

Howard looked over at his son. Its been one hour since that girl, that he guessed was Rhona, left. He was still unconscious, but you can see his breathing. So they knew he was alive. He didn't wake up at all. And even then he was still worried. But he was his dad. He would always be worried.

"Yes I see that. I will just wait it out and see what happens. Then I'll ask him for help."

"You need Tony's help?" Pepper asked.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I can't tell you. I tell Stark in private."

She sighed and went over to Tony. He was beginning to fall out of his perch and was leaning more towards the ground. She fixed him and call Rhodey over. He came and took out his phone.

"Computer is there any way to speed up the charge?"

[Request accepted. Powering up more. Estimated time for full charge; approximately 4 hours.]

Both teens sighed. The other teens were shocked and Happy was denying that Iron Man was actually a human inside a suit. He still thinks that Iron mans a robot. The others were so shocked they didn't ask questions. They just sat in their spots and remained quiet.

So far, Rhona hasn't done anything yet. But Pepper worried that something would happen soon enough. It wasn't like Rhona to hold off like that. But then again she was waiting for Tony's heart to fail. But that failed so she had to make a whole new plan. Probably just taking her time so she doesn't fail again. But now she remembered that Gene could just teleport. She again ran to him.

"Gene can you teleport us out of here?"

"No."

"what! Why not!"

He shook his head. "I want to hear what happened and see what will happen."

"If you want his help then you will save us all!"

"I will when the time is right."

She sighed knowing that she wasn't getting anywhere. So she just lowered herself down to sit next to Tony and Rhodey joined. He sighed as well and looked over at Howard who was at the moment staring at his son with worry.

"So what did happen?" Gene asked.

Rhodey thought about ignoring him, but felt that Gene would take them out at some point. Most likely at the last moment, but who knows. "A lot. He's been through a lot. Do you mean what happened _here _or what happened since your last visit for the 8th ring?"

"The last one." Gene replied.

"So well it was pretty normal at first, but then we were saving some people that were stranded on a really strange island and while transporting the people back to land, Tony got hit by something and crashed into a tree. He lost his memory. Though he did remember bits, he didn't remember his mom. Hardly remembered Howard, and barely remembered Pepper. When he remembered his mom he completely blocked out the world and didn't go to school."

Howard stiffened. He was still upset by Maria's death. Rhodey still continued.

"So then he decided to go to the park to clear his mind. He said it was something his mom did. And was attacked by this assassin called Ghost who cut his arm and poisoned him. He got better and just as he was released from the hospital he was kidnapped and brought here just a few hours after a few of us got here. His heart was failing. He was brought away by Rhona and they did something to him that weakened his heart monitor. We haven't really found out what, but they returned him and you came and he almost died. Again." Rhodey finished. He just wanted to get the basics, but didn't want to leave open spaces.

"So Stark doesn't remember anything?" Gene asked.

"No. He can remember some things. Just not every thing." Rhodey said slightly annoyed. He still was cradling his injured arm to his chest.

"Does he remember me?"

Pepper this time shook her head. "No."

Rhodey turned to her. "How did you know that?"

"When he was trying to remember me he told me he remembered me helping him up and just before I did he saw some kid with us that he didn't know. He described it as the temple. The one with the dread knights. You had the book I think."

Gene sighed. Then this may just be easier or harder. But he ignored it and also looked at Tony.

Everyone remained silent for about an hour. Actually it was about an hour and a half. But still. It was close to somebody getting up to go wander the halls for a bathroom or something when a clanging sound rang in the room. They all turned to the source of the sound. It was Tony who just woke up and had hit his elbow against the wall trying to sit up. Pepper gasped along with most of the others.

"Tony?" She whispered close to his head.

Tony, knowing that it was useless to keep it hidden because she did just call him Tony and he vaguely remembered them putting on the armor in front of everyone, took off his helmet. He set it between his legs and closed his eyes for a second and Pepper had already attacked him in a hug.

"Oh Pep. You gonna have to not do that so roughly." He groaned as his chest still ached from the burns.

She flinched away. "Sorry!"

"It's alright." Tony said while yawning.

"How do you feel man?" Rhodey asked.

Tony smiled. "Just wonderful."

Rhodey allowed himself to laugh. "I don't understand why you still live."

Tony shrugged. "Just luck I guess. Or the world just loves me."

Pepper shook her head with a smile and got up to leave. Tony noticed that and rushed to get up and follow. He looked at her with confusion.

"Just gonna look at whats around. Really nobody tried looking around the hallways yet. They all just went to the lighted room." She said. Really she was going to try and find some water, but she didn't want to say that.

"Then I'm coming with you."

"No you don't have to do that."

"I know. Just want to."

With that the two teens left. Howard looked after his son really confused at what was going on. _Well he still is really sarcastic. _He hoped that his son would be okay. Ever since that Rhona person threatened everyone, he knew that it was just to get at Tony. Well she was going to kill Tony, well at least from what he's heard, but she was going to kill his friends to get to him.

Rhodey laughed out of random. Then everyone looked at him quizzically. "I just realized something!"

"What is it?" Whitney asked. She was sitting kinda to herself. She was still focused on the fact that Tony was iron man.

"For the ones that I know and were here before Gene and Howard. Pepper kissed Tony and Tony didn't look at all shocked. Then just after that he kissed her. And now he's getting all protective over her-"

Roberta gasped loudly jumping to conclusions and interrupting Rhodey.

"Mom." Rhodey snapped. "I was just saying that I think they are a couple! I can't believe after all this time in here I just realized that. It was about time those two stopped being foolish and would get together."

Roberta smiled to herself as well as Howard. They were both proud. In different meanings for the same reason. Howard that his son was dating some one and according to Rhodey, they were both actually in love and not just dating for silly reasons. Roberta was proud that the two could finally stop acting weird around each other.

Rhodey was smiling widely as he thought of the two being together. He sat back and just enjoyed the moment while it lasted.

(With Tony and Pepper)

"Really what are you looking for Pep?" Tony asked when he realized that she didn't at all look like she was just exploring.

"Water." She answered simply.

"Why?"

"To keep us hydrated. Mostly you." She was at least being honest.

"Really Pep, I'm fine. Stop worrying."

She sighed and moved on to the next room. So far all they found was the room Tony was in earlier which was locked, a empty closet, an office with a desk and paper work on it, and another closet. Also two other locked rooms. All rooms dimly lit by a small lantern. But the hallway didn't seem to want to end. It stretched over many yards. It could've been longer than a block. But they finally found the end of the hallway. At the end was another room and when they entered it they looked around and instantly knew it was a bathroom. With a small light that surprisingly wasn't a lantern, and a simple toilet and sink.

At seeing the sink Pepper plugged the sink and turned on the water. The water rose in the sink and she shoved tony lightly to the sink and demanded that he drink. Obediently he did, by cupping his hands together and picking up water with it and sipped it. Once he finished, he told he to do the same and when she denied his offer he told her that he wasn't moving until she did. So with a sigh she moved to do the same and got water.

They were going to return to the rest of the group and share the news. That was there decision. Tony was trailing behind looking around at any source of light. Pepper who was concentrating on getting back to the group and anxious to see how Tony reacts to knowing that his father was here and alive, walked ahead. But when they were half way there, the floor shifted just after Pepper walked over it and opened just as Tony walked over it. He was so shocked he couldn't make a sound and just as silently the floor closed again leaving him in the darkness. And that left a Pepper that didn't even know that Tony was gone.

She walked on and saw the lighted room. She was smiling excitedly for some odd reason that she couldn't describe. Just before she went to the the room she took a deep breath to stop smiling which she was successful of doing. She stepped through the door and into the light. Everyone looked at her and she noticed that Rhodey looked unusually happy. She looked at him with a raised eyebrow. He only shook his head.

"So wheres Tony?" Roberta asked.

She spun around. "What?"

Indeed Tony was not there. He was nowhere near her. She ran out the door yelling Tony's name. When she got no answer she panicked and ran into every room in search for him. She even tried opening that room that Tony was in before. Even though she already knew it was locked. So she just pressed her ear against the door listening for any sound. But she found none. So she just moved on. Every room was empty. She sighed sadly and slowly walked back to the group.

She sat down by Rhodey who was no longer happy. He was now sad that his friend went missing. But he was happy when Pepper told him that he had gotten some water. They thought about all going for a bathroom break, but decided against it afraid that the same would happen to them. Rhodey just comforted Pepper when she began to sob quietly.

"It'll be okay Pepper." He whispered.

"I know. I'm just worried. What if she kills him?" She asked desperately.

He shook his head sadly. "I don't know."

Howard was sad as well but he was also mad that Gene hadn't just teleported everyone out of there and Tony wouldn't be gone. Or at least missing. It was Gene's fault that Tony was most likely getting hurt. Though really it was Rhona's but it was Gene's fault for not saving them. He was going to wait til last minute, but how can you do that if he didn't even know where Tony was?

As usual they sat in silence. Dead silence. Pepper looked for something to busy herself, but when her eyes dropped down to the iron man head that Tony had left behind. She picked it up and looked at it. Tears welled up in her eyes and she blinked harshly to stop them from slipping down her face. But it didn't work and all it did was make them fall. She dropped the helmet and wiped away the tears.

The silence was broken when a loud beep went off causing most of the captives to flinch. There was static for a moment before a loud female voice that was no doubt Rhona rang through the room.

"Some of you may be wondering where Anthony is. Some of you don't care and just want to go home. Well for now that will not happen." She paused as if waiting for someone to say something. "Tony is not the best listener you know. He still denies that he killed Andy. But I know he did. He died in my own arms. He will pay. And I'll let you in on my little secret. He's at this moment paying a visit to me. To pay for what he has done."

She stopped to let the news sink in though a loud scream filled the room much like before, but louder now that its on a loud speaker. Pepper and Rhodey froze.

"I'll give you a clue. In each unlocked rooms there is a key. Each key leads to one of the locked doors. In one room is Anthony. In one room is a bunch of men waiting for you. In the last room, is your escape. Trust me when I say this. Only one room will be a pleasant sight. Right now Tony with out his armor is defenseless making him easily wounded... You have one hour."

There was a beep and she had left. Pepper trembled and Rhodey was completely frozen. Howard was terrified and confused at why his son killed a person. Gene was mad that he hadn't took Tony while he knew where he was. He was regretting waiting until the last moment. Because his last moment was when he left with Pepper.

"Rhodey what was she talking about, with Tony killing Andy?" Howard asked.

"Andy was a android. He was about to kill Pepper and Whitney. And was part of the plan that nearly killed Pepper, Whitney, Happy, and me." Rhodey replied and quickly explained the day they had at school.

"Enough talking you guys. We have to find the keys." Pepper snapped when she returned to reality and remembered that Tony had a time limit as well as them.

Rhodey and Roberta nodded. But Pepper gasped and turned to Gene. "Can you teleport through the locked doors and Get Tony out and save us all?"

"Yes I can. But I need to find the rooms first." Gene said.

Pepper nodded and grabbed his wrist and dragged him to the locked doors. She pointed out the door that Tony was first put in when he was roughly dragged out. So he teleported through the door and was instantly out of it.

"Wrong door."

She she just led him to the closest one. He shook his head though. "He wouldn't be in this one. She'd want us to find him last so she would put him in the farthest door."

She nodded and brought him to the last locked door and he teleported through the door. It took a few moments before he came back. "Nope."

She sighed in frustration and they ran back to the last locked door. He went in and this time took a much longer time in there. She heard muffled yells. Then a crash. And after a few minutes Gene was out of the room. Alone.

"I need you to go to the others and say that Tony should be fine. Just go!" He shouted so she didn't stay and ask questions.

She ran off luckily with no questions asked. He returned to the room where Tony was. He was a bit wet in the front of his shirt, he had a ankle that snapped, his shoulder was bleeding pretty bad as well as he abdomen. But other than that he was fine. Though his body shook from being shocked with electricity from the wet heart monitor. So he removed his shirt and threw it to the ground. Fortunately there was no other wounds. But he couldn't walk on his ankle. So he had Gene support him and they both teleported out of there. They went to the bathroom where the sink was and Gene ran back and got Tony's shirt to use as a cloth to clean his cuts. He dipped the shirt in the water that was still risen from when Pepper and Tony drank from it and wiped it around on Tony careful not to touch the heart monitor. Once Tony was clear of rapid blood loss they headed back.

(With the others)

The door had shut just after Pepper had come back. She tried opening it, but it was no use. It wouldn't budge. The beep sounded again.

"You guys were supposed to use the keys to find Anthony and your exit, but you decided to cheat. This is your punishment."

She was gone, but just after the beep sounded the room walls lit up blue. Everyone moved to the center. But as they all touched they were all shocked. Their bodies shook. Some fell to the ground sooner than others. Some were bracing themselves up on the wall. Then it just stopped just stopped. They breathed heavily. There was a knock on the door and Pepper forced herself up on her feet. She opened the door that was now easily opened.

In the door stood Gene holding up Tony who again was keeping his head down as if hiding something. Though this time he wasn't. Well he was sorta hiding the cut on his shoulder, but he wasn't doing it on purpose. Pepper gasped and took him from Gene. She helped him limp across the room and sat him down next to his helmet. He still looked down. She hugged him lightly careful not to hurt him to much. She checked his watch. Her face lightened up to know that he still had a few hours left.

She looked over to Gene. "Do you know what happened?"

"Not really, but his ankle is broken and there was water across his chest."

Rhodey and Pepper gasped. _How did he live?_They were shocked that he lived because the doctor had said that if he got his heart monitor wet that he would either die instantly or be in agonizing pain. And barely alive. But Tony was still alive.

"Tony?" Pepper whispered.

He looked up. Pain was spread out on his face. "Hmm?"

It broke Roberta's heart to see Tony in so much pain. Every one had gotten up and sat back down fearing for what would happen next. Howard was close to crying, but he stayed strong. It wasn't like him to cry, but he lost his wife and he didn't want to lose his son. His only son. That would break him.

"You okay?" She knew that he wasn't, but it just made her feel better to have him know that she cared.

"Better than before." he said. He was right. Before he was pass out weak. He could hardly even move. But now he talks clearer and his heart was still holding.

Gene walked over to the center of the room. "That's it. We're leaving."

And with that there was a big flash and they were in the middle of central Park in New York.

"You get him to a hospital. Me and Howard will be back to get him." Gene said and left.

Everyone stared wide eyed at him in wonder at how he teleported. All except team iron man and Roberta. Then as they all smiled in relief they broke apart going to home or to a hospital to check out the burns they got from being shocked. Tony was led to the hospital as soon as the group dispersed.

Pepper stayed with him in hopes that he would be okay. And she resolved to tell her father about what had happened.

**Okay so i didn't want to make such a long chapter like i did last time, but it still is pretty long. I really love the support you give me and honestly you helped me through a tough spot and i don't even know you! So yeah thats how good you are. But still i won't be updating this story this week so i can update my other stories. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!**

**So sorry the ending was REALLY rushed!**

**How about you boost me up some more to help me update my other stories faster so i can get to this one already. Lovs! Not really. Review?  
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	11. Authors NotePlease read! not canceled!

**This is very personal. But i trust you to know. But if your not in the mood to find out why, then just read this line and after the next two chapters and you should get the idea. I AM TAKING A BREAK FROM UPDATING! NOT CANCELING. Sorry that this wasn't a real chapter.  
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**OK It is official. I won't be updating anything for a while. I just cant. sorry. I got sick today and went home from school. I went to the doctor, but i have nothing. But if i have nothing than why do i feel so sick? They told me that i am depressed or stressed. or it may be some viral thing. But to be honest i think now that i think about it i am depressed a bit. Or maybe a lot. I know i probably shouldn't be telling you this, but i feel as if i should tell you why i won't be updating much for a while. You should also know that i trust you guys a lot not to be mad that i'm not posting or updating. I trust you enough to tell you about my condition. Just so you know that. **

**I am NOT cancelling my stories, i am just taking a long break. Plus i keep falling asleep while trying to type my chapters. Even when its noon. but i've been going through a tough spot and my grandma is coming to live with us so we can take care of her. My dad broke his back recently and had to go about 5 hours away from us. AND the kids at my school are acting up. Bullying and judging me. I know i shouldn't take offense and that i should ignore them, but when your stressed over so many things in the first place its kinda hard not to take offense. Plus it doesn't help that my little brother is super crabby and screams 24/7. I get no sleep and i am just about to fall asleep right now, but i really wanted you to know this. I feel as if you need to know. Don't worry your not intruding on anything by reading this. I posted it. And another reason that i am posting this is because i need to tell somebody, but none of my friends are really comforting. not that you guys are any better. But they will take it too seriously. So yeah. That is why i am telling you guys and not my friends. Well i'll tell them, but not in full detail. BUT i really trust you to tell you this. I REALLY DO!  
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**So dont worry the updates of my stories will come. At one point. Maybe this weekend or it could be the week after that. it depends. But if you do have to look forward to something this is the order that i will update my stories in. So find the story or stories that you read to find out and estamate to how long you have to wait. MAY BE SWITCHED.  
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**-Baby genius  
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**-Everybody deserves a second chance.  
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**-Armored Memories  
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**-Fighting til the end  
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**-in times of need and war  
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**-At a loss of memory  
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**I know most of you don't read all of them, but the one(s) that you read should be up there. So just worry about yours.  
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**They wont come fast. But they will. One by one. It may happen like baby genius then everybody deserves a second chance, then baby genius again. Then so on so on. but it will be that order or A little bit off. But DO NOT WORRY I WILL RETURN AND I WILL BE REVIEWING AND READING, BUT NOT UPDATING FOR A WHILE. AND _PLEASE_ DON'T BE MAD AT ME. i have had enough of that. (Not from you guys) But i really needed to tell you that. This is just a fair warning so you know where i've gone to and stuff. you guys did help me through the rough part before, but i'm afraid it won't be so easy this time. But i will return though really i am going nowhere, but i will continue to update when i am at my best times. AGAIN I TRUST YOU GUYS AND THANK YOU FOR PUTTING UP WITH MY EXCUSES. though they are true.  
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	12. Visiting Hours

**Okay I realized that I let the other people that were kidnapped off too easily. So just use your imagination and pretend that Pepper or even Rhodey went over and spoke to them all about not telling them about iron man.**

**I am fine now and i feel a lot better! THANK YOU SOO Much for the help! So some of you already know, but i am fully back now! I am back on full time updates. And i'm coming close to the end of baby genius. And this story as well the next chapter or the one after that will be the last chapter! So two stories down. Someone on here told me that i was writing 6 stories and that i should focus on just two stories at once, but that wasn't really a problem. it just depends on my mood for what story i want to update. And you know i feel really bad that some of my other stories havent been updated just as much as this one, but this is getting the most attention and i really like updating this one. the next one i update hopefully will be baby genius or everyone deserves a second chance. by this weekend or sunday i should have updated them. Just so you know.  
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**This one actually took really short to write, but my step dad in the middle of my writing/typing came and unplugged the computer and i had to rewrite the ending. Which was no fun, because that part i was really focused on so lets hope the rewrite was close enough to the original. My step dad sometimes acts before he thinks and he did the same thing to my older brother who was in the middle of a game that took forever to do anything. So yeah otherwise this chapter would have been up by yesterday. Sometimes i don't really like him. He can be really pushy. and mean. but he can be nice...ANYWAYS one with the long waited chapter!  
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**I OWN NOTHING!  
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(With Gene and Howard)

"Gene."

Silence.

"Gene!"

No reply.

"GENE!" Howard now shouted.

Gene stopped his pacing. He turned to Howard. "WHAT! What could it possibly be old man!"

"Why do you need my son?" He demanded.

"He seems much more successful then you! He got me 4 rings! And you've gotten me what? 2 rings? Tony still has the better mind."

Howard sighed. "Can I at least come with?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I don't want to have to look after someone."

"How do you suppose your going to get him to help you in the first place. He doesn't even remember the rings or you. He hardly even remembers me!"

Silence followed as Gene began to think. He started again to pace, which Howard wanted him to stop. But of course Gene held the higher power. He held higher grounds at the moment.

Finally Gene spoke up. "I'll do what I can. And if it means getting him alone and lying or even kidnapping I will."

Howard glared at the teen. "_Don't you dare touch my son!_" He spat.

Gene only rolled his eyes. He stopped pacing and came to a resolve. If Tony wouldn't believe his lie, he would threaten him. And if something happens, then he would be forced to take him by force. Though Gene knew this meant leaving Howard behind. He didn't care. Howard didn't help. Tony did. Though if at some point Tony decided to remember anything, then Gene would just have to be prepared. So be it.

He looked at the necklace that held the rings. He knew one of them held a healing power. So that meant he was going to catch visiting hours at the hospital the next day...

* * *

><p>(At the hospital.)<p>

Luckily Tony didn't need a replacement heart monitor even though there was extensive damage to it. Though it was very odd because Tony had to have somebody holding up a blow-dryer to the heart implant to dry it off completely. Of course Pepper volunteered to hold it up for awhile til she got tired and fell asleep with her head on his lap, dropping the blow-dryer. Rhodey who was standing nearby, caught it just before it landed on the floor. He instead held it up. Roberta was talking to Dr. Yinsen and Whitney and Happy had come to visit a weak Tony. Who got his stitches and pain meds. Which if he was awake it would also make him act all funny.

Though he was asleep. But not long after he fell asleep he whipped his head back and forth mumbling something and was frowning deeply. His mouth twitched slightly. Rhodey looked over from the poster he was staring at when Tony groaned a bit loudly. Noticing that his friend was pale and sweating. His face was red. The heart monitor went wild and the beeping increased. It went faster and faster. Pepper woke with a startled noise. Her eyes heavy. She blinked and looked for the source of the sound that woke her up. She eyed the monitor and gasped fully awake now. Tony?

"What happened? Whats going on?" She asked looking at the now trembling Tony.

She tried to make out what he was saying. He _was _mumbling something. Though it was very hard to tell what exactly it was. So she sat closer to his head.

"..._mom...no...pep...no...no_" His arm now was shaking. His head whipping back and forth. "_Rhodey? Roberta...?... mom? Dad? Mommy...?_" His voice was shaking with pure sadness and pain.

Roberta looked over. The doctor had just left before Tony started acting weird. She looked over as the word _mommy _was said a bit loud. Pepper held Tony's hands shushing him. Telling him that it was all okay. But he didn't seem to hear her. So she wrapped her arms around his trembling arms and body and squeezed tightly trying to calm him down. Keep him still.

"_NO!_" He yelled just as his eyes snapped open. He was gasping in air as if it was the best thing ever. Or at least as if it was the first time he actually breathed since a long time.

Pepper rubbed his shoulders while Rhodey just frowned in worry for his friend. For his brother. Tony was still trembling when he sat up and squeezed Pepper back. He rubbed her back crying softly into her neck. It broke her heart to see him like this. So heartbroken. So sad. She didn't want to see him this way. She wished she could just leave to a happy place and come back and everything would be okay. that's all she wanted. But she knew that she couldn't leave. Not with Tony in this condition. So scared.

"It's okay!" She said reassuringly. "It was just a dream!"

"Not all of it..." Tony said sadly before going mute.

He lifted his head from her neck that he instinctively rested his head for comfort and his face reddened. He looked over and Rhodey and his eyes widened. A small sad smile broke out on his face and his head just tilted to the side before frowning. He looked confused.

"Rhodey?"

Rhodey raised his eyes brows. "Hmm?"

"Is...is that you?" Tony asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

He nodded. "Is something wrong?"

"Wrong!" Tony blurted. "I haven't seen you in a while!"

"What? I saw you before you went to sleep..."

Everybody was now watching him funny. Even Whitney and Happy who were still sitting in the corner. Or opposite corners...

"No..." His head turned and he was about to continue when he froze. His eyes on Roberta. He blinked. "Roberta?"

"Yes Tony?" She replied.

He never answered. The door opened and Dr. Yinsen stepped in. "I heard that Tony's heart beat was running fast. Just coming to..." His voice trailed off as he realized the atmosphere. "What happened?"

"We don't know. He must have had a bad dream and when he woke up...he said he hadn't seen James in a while. Though it's only been about and hour." Roberta informed him.

"Oh dear."

"What?" Rhodey asked and looked at Tony who had his arm around Pepper and silent tears still rolled down his cheeks.

"I'm afraid his injuries and the stress and the water on the heart implant, pushed him memory down a bit. Actually quite a bit. What else did he say?"

"Nothing. Well he said Roberta as if it was a question." Pepper added. "Then he went all mute"

The doctor sat in a chair by Tony. He dropped his hand on his shoulder, making him flinch, bringing Pepper along with him. "Tony its okay!"

Tony eyed the doctor worriedly. Still no answer.

"I want to help you. So your going to have to speak."

Tony shook his head.

"Please. I wont hurt you."

Again a shake of his head.

Pepper rubbed his back soothingly. "It's okay. If you cant trust him, then can you trust me?"

He nodded.

"Doctor how come he can't remember seeing me or mom in a while and still he remembers that he's with Pepper?" Rhodey asked.

"I don't really know." Yinsen replied. "Doctors never really found out why when people lose their memory that they find something familiar or why they forget things."

"Oh." Rhodey replied slipping his gaze to Tony who now stopped crying and actually fell asleep. Right onto Pepper's shoulder. She slid him down onto his back and rubbed the back of his hand and wrist.

Rhodey was now deep in thought. _How could he lose so much of his memory and just when he was getting them back... _He was upsetting more by the fact that Tony thought that he hadn't seen Rhodey in a long time. Nor had he thought he had seen Roberta in awhile. Though it was not even an hour since he had fell asleep.

Yinsen walked over to Tony and his head tilted. His eyes scanned the teen up and down. The blankets were in bundles at the end of the bed and tangled in his legs. The pillow stuffed in the corner of the bad, not under his head. His face was calm. Peaceful even. Yinsen hadn't known what had happened really, but He noticed that the other teens and Roberta looked a bit shocked. Some of their muscles twitching. Their hair a bit frizzy...

_What happened? _Yinsen thought.

He shook his head and narrowed his eyes at Tony his face was red. So he took out his thermometer and carefully rubbed it across Tony's forehead. Tony stirred but didn't wake. He pulled his hand back and read the results. He felt the gazed of the teens and Roberta, but just continued to do his job. 104.3 degrees. He shook his head. That kid sure knew how to get himself hurt. He was literally let out the morning before.

"Well he has a fever. 104.3. He's pretty stressed out right now. So-" Yinsen was about to continue on, but Tony despite only falling asleep moments ago snapped into a sitting position with a very strangled like sound. He winced. He was pulling at the stitches that he got. He relaxed his muscles.

"Tony I am going to give you some pain meds. Though it's through a shot. Would that be okay?" Yinsen said slowly as if Tony was a child.

Tony's eyebrow raised. Confusion.

"I'll take that as a yes." With that Dr. Yinsen stepped out.

Pepper turned to face Tony. "You should sleep."

"No..." His voice was small.

She sighed. Now he was afraid of sleep. Not only was it bad for his health. It wasn't like him. He didn't look scared. Just sad. He was sad for what was in his dreams. Evidently Rhodey, Roberta, Pepper, his mom, and...his dad? His mom seemed to be a pretty big part of it. His dreams. He even called her mommy. Though nobody could blame him. She died when he was still young enough to call her that without others be judgmental. So he was never really able to get used to actually call her _mom._ Though it saddened her to how his voice sounded. It was so heartbroken. So small.

So unlike Tony. Though ever since he lost his memory he hadn't been the same. He asked so many questions. Normally he would have kept any question in his head. He cried. He still cries. He's not as protective over the others anymore. And he's not the same genius he used to be. He doesn't have full memory. And sometimes, Pepper thought that his memory loss was going to be permanent. She snapped out of her thoughts when the door opened and Dr. Yinsen swept in.

"Well there's good news and bad news." He started.

"We didn't know we were expecting news." Roberta said.

Yinsen just shrugged. "Bad news first. The pain meds that are right for his age are late for transport. So he has to use a stronger dose. Good news is that Tony is just close enough to have it with no side effects. Or no _bad _side effects it will-"

"What do you mean bad side effects?" Pepper butted in looking back at Tony even though she was expecting an answer.

He sighed. "It will just make him a bit...loopy...? Or goofy you could say."

"Doctor, How come Tony can't take a smaller dose?" Roberta asked politely.

"Well, because the stronger stuff will work about ten times faster than the children's dose. Oh and better."

Roberta looked at Tony wondering if she should allow it. It wasn't a hard decision. She nodded her head. So with that Yinsen walked over to Tony who was following his every move. And at some point saw a needle and his eyes widened. You could see him shuddering. But he didn't back away when Yinsen tied his arm and rubbed it with rubbing alcohol. Tony under instruction straightened his arm and the doctor easily slipped the needle into the vein. Tony winced, but neglected the pain. He'd take that pain over the large cuts and shock. And particularly the dreams.

"good now the goofy effects should kick in when the medicine starts working. Which should be some where around 20 minutes to 40 minutes." Yinsen said heading for the door while writing something in his clipboard.

When the door shut behind him. They all turned to Tony as if expecting him to starting acting all crazy like already. Whitney though now stood up. "Please excuse me. I need to go."

With a glare at Pepper and a smile to Rhodey, she stepped out. Happy as always followed her out. Pepper and Rhodey were kinda glad that they left. Now it was practically family. And girlfriend. Unless that was considered family when your boyfriend lost his memory. Of if they even called themselves boyfriend and girlfriend.

Time did pass. Though Rhodey was actually excited for some kind of happy atmosphere. That is if the craziness made it happy. He wanted things to go up hill. Not down hill. Roberta who raised Rhodey and saw Tony a lot when he was young wasn't all too excited for the goofiness to start. She already had her share of that. But if it meant Tony getting better, then she couldn't wait.

At about 20 minutes. Tony started to sway in his sitting position while smiling. Yinsen came and checked up on him. He claimed that this wasn't the goofiness he was talking about and that it would get worse. Or goofier.

He was right.

Only 7 minutes later he was giggling like mad. And he had taken a liking to Pepper's hair. He started twirling it around his fingers and smelling it and brushing his hand through it. She was really creeped out, but when she pulled he took her hand and started poking each and every finger. He trailed his own finger across the lines on her palm. As if he was reading her future.

"Your hand is small..." He said with a goofy smile while comparing his hand to hers.

She nodded.

He laughed. He shifted so it would allow him to stand up. But pepper quickly laid him back down. He started to laugh.

"Why do I have to lay down?" He whined.

"Because your hurt." She said gently poking his leg. He laughed and flinched. "What?"

The doctor opened the door and walked in. He saw Tony laughed and holding his leg. "Oh did you touch his leg or something?"

"Yeah..." Pepper said slowly.

Yinsen chuckled. "The medicine makes you really ticklish. Even the slightest touch will make his laugh."

Tony who stopped his insane laughing frowned. He was looking at Dr. Yinsen. Who was staring back curiously. Tony began to rub his jaw bone as if expecting to feel something. "This feels funny.."

"Yeah it should."

"your a doctor." He giggled. "I'm Ir-"

Pepper slapped her hand in front of his mouth. He jumped in uncontrollable laughter. He seriously would not give it way! She removed her hand and instantly regretted it.

"IM IRON MAN!" Tony blurted.

The others all stared at him shocked. Though Yinsen only laughed. "Really?"

"Yeah." Tony giggled. "I save lives."

"You keep thinking that!" Rhodey laughed. He had to say something.

"Its not like he really is Iron man. That would just be insane!" Pepper said.

"I know. The meds will make him say many things. Some are even true. Though I really don't think he's iron man." Yinsen said quietly.

Tony didn't hear it due to the fact that he busied himself in Pepper's hair again. To keep him from saying something else that would somehow prove that he _was _iron man, she let him. He even started to make braids in random spots and he carelessly pulled it in all directions. But she didn't care. Just as the doctor left. Rhodey sighed heavily and stretched.

"James lets go get some food. You want to come Pepper?" Roberta said.

She shook her head. "Can't. My dad is probably worried sick. Plus I need a shower!"

"You have to go right now?" Rhodey asked.

"Yes. Well no, but I was supposed to go home long time ago. So I don't need to get in anymore trouble than I already am."

Roberta nodded. "We'll be heading out soon as well. _With _Tony."

Tony was going home with them. But Tony wasn't really released til midnight. It was just how the timing worked. And if Tony came within 48 hours for a check up to make sure his heart implant was still working fine. Like if it still charged or even did it's job. So they decided to go get dinner and bring something back for Tony while he was still in. To be safe, they were only going down stairs to the hospital food court. It had two small fast food restaurant and a small cafe.

Tony now watching his fingers and he wiggled them giggled. Pepper gripped his hand and squeezed causing Tony to erupt in laughter. She grabbed her bag and headed out the door with a smile and a wave. Rhodey waved back while his mom smiled in return. Tony finished his laughing fit.

"Tony stay here. We'll be right back." Rhodey said.

Rhodey would have stayed, but he wanted to know what there was and he knew what Tony liked the best. So he left along with Roberta to go down stair to get food. Leaving a very giggly Tony alone.

* * *

><p>(With Gene and Howard)<p>

All day Gene wondered when he should leave. Or how he would get the armor. He would let Tony have it to protect him when they were in the temple. But the armor would only be allowed in temples. Or if his friends attacked. Then he'd just use Tony's mind against his friends with one of his new rings. Just like he did to get the eighth ring.

Howard ranted all day long to Gene to leave his son alone. That he already got Howard. But Gene just simply ignored him. Or locked him back up. But Gene decided to be nice and let Howard go as a swap. Tony for this old man. A Stark for a Stark.

Right now at this moment the two were walking down the street. It was somewhere around the average dinner time. They could see the hospital from here. Gene cloaked Howard with one of his ring powers so nobody freaked out saying that Howard was alive. It would slow them down.

"Gene You leave my son _alone!" _Howard said once again quietly though.

"You try and make me I will do more than just take him!" Gene said and now Howard remained quiet.

They stepped in the hospital and walked straight to the reception desk. The woman in glasses wore purple. Purple sweater, v-neck shirt, loose jogging pants, and even shoes and socks. Though her glassed were a bright green.

She looked up at the teen waiting. Not knowing he wasn't alone. "May I help you?"

Gene nodded sharply. "Yes. Do you know what room Tony Stark is in?"

"Yes he's up on 4th floor. Room 14 to the left. Visiting hour ends in 10 minutes so you know."

"Thanks." He said and rushed off with Howard mumbling about something.

The two walked towards the elevators and pressed the 'up' button. It glowed yellow and you can hear hear the rumbling of the elevator as it came falling down. They waited patiently as the doors dinged and opened. Letting them in. They walked in and Gene hit the '4' button and again waited. The doors closed and the shaft lurched upwards. They exited and went to the left as the purple lady said. It was about four doors down on the opposite end of the hallway than the elevators.

As they approached the door a doctor walked out leaving the door ajar. He looked right at Gene. To Howard this doctor was very familiar. He was just another face to Gene.

"Visiting hours are almost over so you know." they already knew. "Your most likely not going to get much. He's on pain meds." The doctor chuckled and walked away scratching his left ear.

Gene opened the door and Howard slid in before the door was shut by Gene. Then he'd be stuck out there unless he wanted to freak the people that were waiting out in the hallway that there was a ghost. Which there wasn't. It was just a cloaked Howard.

Gene looked around the room. No Rhodey or Pepper. No Roberta. Nobody. Where were they?

In the room Gene shut the door and made sure it was shut all the way before uncloaking Howard and turning around. There Tony was, shaking his right hand as fast as he could while trying to shake his head to the same speed and his left hung over the arm of the bed. His eyes crossed. It was hard to tell if he even knew they were here. He laughed and flung himself into a laying position. He laid there looking as dazed as ever.

"Tony." Gene said. "Stark! Hello?"

Tony jumped slightly and looked over. He sat up again and his eyebrows raised smugly and confused. His blue electric eyes trained on Gene. His eyes were wide, but not in shock or fear. Just...wide.

"Your coming with me!" Gene didn't really mean to say it like that. But just the way Tony was looking at him. It was odd. It was a face that looked as if it wouldn't understand anything he was told.

"Gene!" Howard snapped.

Gene only grumbled and walked over to the bed where Tony lay. Tony laughed. "Whats so funny?"

"I dunno!" Tony laughed.

"then stop laughing. Get up."

"Okay." Tony listened. He stood up. He swayed up bit with a sloppy smile on his face.

Tony lifted his hand and pointed a finger. He moved it in small movements. Then he lightly poked the design on Gene's shirt. Gene flinched away while Tony laughed. "What are you doing?"

"It's all gold wait no all black then little areas of gold" Tony stated as if he was proud of the fact.

"Howard you stay here. Don't get any ideas. Somebody might as well tell Rhodes and Potts about Tony's whereabouts."

"Who's he?" Tony said when Howard glared at Gene.

Gene only sighed and grabbed Tony's arm. He pulled him towards the door wanting to leave without bringing any attention to himself by making a flash. Well actually he wanted Howard to stay and not have him try and go with them. Then he'd have both the Stark's mouthing off at him. If that was how Tony was going to be. Who knows how someone will act when they lost their memory.

"Where are we going?" Tony said. His voice was clear, but sleepy. He wasn't laughing anymore.

"Some place fun."

"I don't like fun places."

Gene almost face-palmed. Almost. But he didn't he just sighed loudly and went to the elevators. He pressed the down button that again lit up yellow. The ding went off and the door opened. Though this time it wasn't empty. Rhodey, and Roberta stood holding bags of food and holsters of drinks. It was take out from the cafe. Rhodey gasped when he saw Gene roughly holding onto Tony's arm, while Tony was half asleep.

"Gene." Rhodey spat.

Roberta was shocked at the venom that was used in Rhodey's voice. She understood that Gene did something that was clearly unforgivable, but it was still a shock that her own son had that kind of tone. She sure had it. His dad did. So of course he inherited it. Of course. She was just shocked still. She never heard him speak with such tone. He was normally a peaceful kid. But according to the stories Pepper and Tony told, Rhodey was scary when he was mad. Just plain scary. But not as scary as herself.

"Rhodes." Gene spat back and started to back away. Dragging Tony behind who fell over bringing Gene down with him. Tony laid there just blinking. His head rocking side to side.

Gene stumbled to get up. He reached for his rings no longer caring if anyone saw him. Just that he got out. If he got out there was nothing they could do. Nobody could find them. But just as he was reaching for them from his own neck, Rhodey who had stepped out of the elevator and set down the bag of food, jumped on his back. His hands gripping Gene's wrists. Gene thrust his elbow back hitting Rhodey in the ribs. Rhodey grunted, but his grip firmed instead of loosened.

Roberta didn't waste time to watch she slipped her arms under Tony's and pulled him. Dragging him across the long hallways to his room. She was trying to be careful of his shoulder and even his side stitches, but it was hard to do that when he can't stand up. He was just so tired.

Rhodey's knees struggled to find traction. But when Gene rolled to attempt an escape, Rhodey's leg caught a carpet and he used it as traction to pull him out of a tackle position to a pinning position. Rhodey with may years of wrestling with his dad before he went off to work, was a far better fighter than Gene who relied on his rings and the self defense he learned from his step dad. Which was very little.

"You _leave _Tony alone you sick person!" Rhodey hissed.

Gene pressed against Rhodey's weight and his leg just managed to hook onto Rhodey's and his kicked it away from his own stomach. Rhodey toppled and Gene managed to get up. Rhodey scrambled up instantly. Not wanting to be at eye level with Gene's feet.

"He's the one that came willingly." Gene spat.

"He's one strong pain medications! You say doughnut he laughs you poke him he thinks your tickling him!" Rhodey shouted. "He doesn't know right from wrong!"

"I can heal him. Just let him help me"

"No! Not after what you did!"

"Howard is back in that room! In the hospital room. I gave him _back. _Once I get all the rings which won't be long, Tony can come back unharmed."

"At what cost though?"

"I don't know. Just have to see what happens."

the two glared at each other. Roberta was just about to enter the room. Though she was struggling with the door. Gene slowly began to pull out his rings. Rhodey's eyes followed his every movement. The string the rings were connected to was thin and now unattached. He was just about to pull them off the string and into his hand when Rhodey snatched at them gaining the surprise and held the rings behind his back cautiously. Gene with flames in his eyes, threw himself at Rhodey. Rhodey made sure his hand was on the rings not the string and just before the two made contact, Rhodey's fist was the first thing to make contact. Smack on the side of Gene's jaw. Throwing him off course and into a cart.

Roberta got Tony in the room. With help of someone. She was so concentrated on making sure that Tony was okay she never found out who it was. She instantly after laying Tony on the bed and him falling asleep she sped out the room before who ever it was that she was with could say a word to her. The only thing she knew was that he was familiar somehow and that he was _no _doctor.

She exited the room and zip lined down the hall to the two teens. Rhodey held some kind of familiar ring that Howard had been studying behind his back. Rings actually. Gene was in a heaping pile of health kits and towels and cleaning supplies.

"You leave Tony alone. You leave us all alone. Maybe if you hadn't betray us and would tell us _why _you even want the rings."

"It's my destiny. My goal in life." Gene said while stumbling to a standing form.

Rhodey laughed. "You hurt so many people for a silly destiny. If you need help then your not worthy. Your not ready. Start again when you know what your doing and when you don't need help from a genius."

"It's not some silly destiny. Its a power that needs to be in the right hands. I am worthy. Anybody worthy enough would ask for help at times."

"Yeah that is just it. _Ask._ Not take. Not force. It is definitely not in the right hands."

"Is it any better in your hands? You who know nothing about the rings."

"Sometimes not knowing things is for the better. Like why Tony kept his secret from you. He did say that he tried to tell you once. Pepper for the most part of it actually wanted to tell you. But turns out it was better with all of us not knowing! Just move on. Get a life that matters. You know Tony really trusted you. Pepper did. I never did, but if you just let me I would." Rhodey's voice was loud and firm.

Gene was frozen in shock. Rhodey was _mad. _Gene wasn't afraid of him when he was angry like the others were. Though it still worried him for not knowing the full reason why not to when Tony did.

"So pretty much your saying you'd rather me keep it a secret for a little longer and help me get all the rings, then give up your identity to me?"

Rhodey shook his head. "No. I'm saying don't force people to do things they don't want to. What is the point in that. If you found somebody who shared your point of view in why you need to get the rings then get them. At least they will be willing to and be giving it their all."

Gene frowned angrily. He wasn't going to be told off by Rhodey. Spoken off to by Rhodey. So he once again lunged at Rhodey his hands desperately trying to get the rings. Roberta gasped and ran at the two and took the rings. She was glad that Rhodey had known that it was her and not Gene grabbing the rings. She backed away and when she knew Gene wasn't looking she threw them in her pockets and ran off as quiet as she could.

Rhodey, his hands now free, grabbed at Gene's throat and tightened. Gene stopped moving all together. His breathing was low. Tight. His head felt the full pressure coming on and his hands pried at the hands that held his neck.

"As I said you leave my family alone. Tony's as well." Rhodey spat and dropped him. Gene glared at Rhodey.

Doctors who had heard the crashing had came up minutes ago, but didn't do anything because it wasn't safe with all the levels of anger flying around. They ran up to Gene and looked at his throat. "what is going on?"

The two teens remained silent. Having no explanation. But Rhodey luckily was able to think of one before Gene could. "He tried to kidnap Tony Stark and he was trying to get me down so he could get Tony."

It was kinda low to put all the blame on Gene. It was actually him who attacked first. It was him who was trying to beat up Gene for Tony. But it was for Tony's safety not his "help". Not forcing him to do something he doesn't even remember.

Gene spoke now. "You attacked first."

"Yeah, but I'm not the one kidnapping others to do your dirty work. Controlling them. You were that close to having Tony. You had him out here, clearly in a bad state of health for help being a villain" Rhodey said back in return.

The doctors sighed. But really they couldn't risk it. "Both of you come with us."

Rhodey couldn't help, but feel happy. Gene didn't have his rings. He did not have Tony. Hopefully this was permanent. As long as they watched over the rings. They just had to make sure they declared Gene was the trouble maker and not Rhodey.

* * *

><p>(In the hospital room.)<p>

After Roberta slid into the room she noticed through the hospital window that the shades were up a tad, the doctors were rushing towards the noise. She sighed glad that the boys didn't have to fight. Anymore. The longer they fought the more of a chance Gene could win and he'd come straight back for Tony and the rings.

She turned around in relief as she saw the doctors walking away with a struggling Gene and a smug Rhodey. Though she frozed in her tracks when she had began to walk towards Tony. The person who had helped her moments ago was talking to a sleepy Tony. She knew he was alive already, but she hadn't expected to see him.

There she stood staring into the eyes of her old friend.

Howard.

**So how was it? How was it for a chapter? I know I probably made Gene a bit OCC like, but i really don't like him. But i thought oh well every story has its ups and downs and sometimes you dont like what you write, but i don't really care. I am in a bright mood now that MCA's are over and that i only have the MAPS math test to take til testing is over! Now that i think about it, Rhodey also was a bit OCC... Sorry for any other OCCish charactor that i made in this chapter. Just trying my best here. **

**Some of you know or read that i am working on a big story and all. So far i'm pretty proud of it. Cause when i finish this story and baby genius i can post the first few chapters! Yes i am working ahead. It does help. I think it helps that i write it out on paper and then type it and add in a whole bunch of detail to make it seem longer. This story will include tons of feelings. Its a what if story. meaning its a story that is like what if this happened what would happen in my perspective. You honestly didn't need to read that, but i like keeping you guys updated about any of my stories or whats going on with future stories.  
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**Speaking of which, can anybody give me more villain ideas? I have my next two villains planned, but i need to have more. I need more. please. You may not even read that fanfic, but just give me ideas? If you do happen to read it and give me an idea, don't be upset that your villain wasn't used. Cause it might just not be used _yet_. so yeah  
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	13. interrogations and Marcus Gunn pupil?

**so here is the next mighty chapter. Wow i almost typed in "the next mightly episode" but i caught myself. ANYWAYS i thought i'd hurry up and post this so, her ya go. So you know i took my time and did some research and yes when in the story i mention "Marcus Gunn pupil" it is a real thing and the symptoms are correct. so there you have to those of you are curious at whether or not that was real. I want to make Yinsen sound as professional as ever but again i failed at that so please forgive me. Well i know there might be some parts that should be there or shouldn't be there, but use your imagination and add and ignore the things you think arent that important or just go along with it. **

**So lets read on! Wait! i forgot shout outs!  
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**Finny-Kun Goddess- LOL thanks for the smile! I dont like Gene much and love it when he doesn't get what he wants. XD  
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**UnikDork- Thank you! I'm really glad you like it so much you'd watch it and want it to be an episode! ^.^  
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**Enojoy!  
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Howard.

Howard was in the room talking to his weak son. She couldn't tell what he was saying and if Tony even understood it. Tony had woken up when he was put in the hospital bed and she wanted to urge him to sleep and that everything was just fine, but honestly she didn't even know if everything was alright herself. She was completely confused at what was going on. Her mind was scrambled and the only thing on her mind at the moment was that Tony was tired, Howard was here, and Rhodey and Gene went somewhere with the doctors. Hopefully they will call the police and that Gene will be arrested. She had the rings so he couldn't use them to teleport out as he did before with everybody else.

She rubbed her left front pocket to make sure she had the rings still and sighed in relief that they were. She couldn't help but fear that somehow they got loose and Gene had gotten them somehow and that he was only acting to get Tony another day. But she bit her lip and shook her head. She had to stop thinking on the down side of everything. So she thought of happy things. Such as Tony being happy with his memories. Tony not in the hospital. Her son to have his friend back. Pepper to be able to actually be with the Tony that had his memories. Howard to never had been captured. Tony had his company. Everybody was happy.

She walked over slowly to the two Starks who have been reunited though she wished it was on better terms. She was smiling a bit with her hand hovering over her pocket. As she approached the two, they both looked over. Tony was still a bit loopy, but he was so tired he wasn't acting all weird. Or anymore weirder than he already was before they left to go get food.

"Hey Howard." Roberta said.

"Hello." He replied. He was holding his son's hand.

"I'm Tony." Tony said with a small laugh and fell asleep.

The adults laughed at that. Maybe he still was still a bit weird. The laughed echoed in the room and it left a happy atmosphere.

"your alright, right?" Roberta asked.

Howard smiled. "Yes I'm fine. Gene didn't hurt me. If that's what you mean."

"That's good. Well yeah. Your son is... a lot of things. A genius. If you ask Rhodey he'd say he was a jerk." Roberta paused to laugh at the memory of just seeing them two talking and sometimes when they are messing around they both playfully punch their shoulders laughing out 'jerk'. "They both think their both jerks. Sometimes when Rhodey's in a mood he'd tell Tony just to get on his nerves that he was the better looking. If Tony's in a good mood he'd playfully argue about it and pose saying that he was the most beautiful man alive, though if he's not in a good mood he'd just say good luck with that."

Howard laughed. He had so much to catch up on. His company, his son, Tony's friends, Roberta, just life. They looked at Tony and sighed. The moment was over when a doctor came in.

"Mrs. Rhodes I need you to follow-" his voice trailed off when he saw Howard and he paled. "H-how is t-this e-e-even possible?"

"He was never dead." Roberta said. "He was kidnapped by that Gene Khan."

"Well then you both better come with me." The doctor said still phased by the appearance of Howard Stark.

Howard patted his son's head whispering that he'd be right back and that everything would work out. Soon enough he was following Roberta and the doctor that didn't have a name to them yet. He led them down the hall to the elevators and down another hall. This hallway seemed a bit eerie. It was empty. It was freaky. The carts that held heath supplies sat sloppily on the side of the hallway and the lights flickered. The beeping of heart monitor screens. This was the hallway that the people that were expected to die soon were put. At least Tony wasn't her. Anymore. According to Roberta who had just told him Tony had gotten here before and she was afraid that she lost him.

They finally stopped at the end of the hallway and went down some stairs and into a room. In the room sat Rhodey and Gene glaring at each other with s few doctors there. Two police officers were there. It was odd that a hospital even had a room like this, but it made sense that the hospital was connected to the police station and for all they knew this was the police station now and not the hospital. Leaving Tony alone in the hospital unless Pepper somehow decided to come back and visit. Though it wasn't visiting hours anymore. That was wasted long ago.

So the room was an interrogating room that Tony was in that one time. But she got him out of there before the police can get something from him that was worth arresting him for. Cause she knew that he was innocent. She saw his eyes when he told her and Pepper that it wasn't him. She knew Tony was a terrible liar, but most of the time she just let it pass knowing that what ever he was lying about was worth it somehow, and now shes glad she let it pass. Other wise she would have gotten Tony in a much worse position than he may have already been in.

Each police officer was talking a different teen. She knew one of them to be the officer that interrogated Tony when he was 'supposedly' out at a party like place shooting lasers at nothing. But again the look in his eyes and his agitation towards the accusations were him obviously telling the truth that he didn't do anything and it in fact wasn't him at all. Her mind just placed it as a criminal or villain with like transforming qualities.

The doctor that directed them here left and another doctor sent her in to explain to the police officers cause they knew she saw what happened. Howard was here just cause visiting hours was over and they thought that he was the guardian for Gene. They didn't know a thing.

Officer Regrint was the name of the officer. Ben Regrint. **(I don't know I just made it up.) **He was interrogating her son and she went in to talk to him first.

"Your son says that that boy in the other room kidnapped Howard Stark and was now trying to get Tony Stark is that true?"

She nodded.

"And he also says that he has these magic rings that give him power? Is that even possible?"

"Yes it is possible. Anything is. And anything he is saying is the truth. Cause how does Howard survive a plane crash with no scar and not having to go to the hospital? The rings can teleport people. I'm sorry for any inconvenience in believing this, but it is absolutely true." Roberta said.

"Are you sure your not just saying this to protect your son?"

"Yes. If Rhodey did something bad or he's lying, he wouldn't hear the end of it. I am a lawyer after all."

The police officer sighed. "Do you even know where the rings are. It doesn't look like hes wearing them."

the wall was see through so they could see Gene in there with a scowl on his face. Though it was sound proof.

Roberta nodded. "Yes he doesn't where them. That's what triggers the magic. I have them in fact. He was about to use them to get Tony."

She said that all the while digging in her pockets to get the string that held the rings. She wrapped her fingers around the string and rings and pulled them out. They were swinging back and forth and she showed them to Ben.

He scratched the side of his head just above his ear. His eyes narrowed as he examined the rings. His dark eyes with a look both of curiosity and annoyance. He must not like having cases that were all mystical. After a few moments Roberta was growing impatient. She wanted to catch the next visiting hour. To make sure that Tony was alright. Even though Tony's father was back and that once they get the company back Tony would most likely move out of her house, she would always call him her son as well. She was his godparent anyway. So if anything happened to Howard again, Tony would just move right back in with them.

At one point the officers eyes gleamed with recognition. "Are these the rings Howard were examining?"

Shocked at how this police officer would know such info, was a mystery to all, but she composed herself to answer. "Yes."

"So its true they have magical properties?"

"Well that's the simplest explanation." she said as she put the rings that she was given back in her pocket.

Ben nodded and turned to Rhodey. "You may go. You have my support if this issue goes any farther."

Rhodey sighed in heavy relief and got up, his chair scraping against the floor. He pushed it back in and hugged his mother muttering his thanks to her neck and hair. She hugged him back and gave her own mutter of 'your welcome'. Together they all walked out of the room and Roberta was given permission to give the other officer the truth. She slipped in the room containing a officer that goes by the name of Harold Binge. **(Again just made it up). ** Gene was giving her what her could muster up of a death glare. It was good but if she ever did a death glare to anyone, they'd be dead where they stood.

"Officer." She said nodding her head towards him.

"This young man here claims he's innocent. Is that correct?" Officer Harold asked.

"No." She eyed Gene who was scolding at the table now. What did the table do to him?

"So he's not innocent?"

"Like I just said. No." She was a bit frustrated with the repeated question.

"Can you tell me why?"

"Yes. He not only kidnapped Howard Stark, he also tried to kidnap Tony Stark as well when he was still in the hospital. To force him to help look for more rings that could give him the power to take over the world."

"And where are these rings?" The cop asked.

Roberta nervously eyed Gene who was smirking at her. Though to be honest she didn't see what it could harm showing the police officer, but showing Gene where they are could be a dangerous mistake. So she looked at the police officer with a look she hoped he understood.

He did. "Later then. Next question. Is there a witness? Any proof. Like lets say Howard?"

"Yes there is and it is Howard." She replied glad with the answer.

"Okay where is he can we call him? I mean we can set up for court and see what a judge says about this but if Howard can be here anytime soon, the fast this can be over with and so far everything is leading to this kid being guilty. We will have this voted upon with the doctors since their fight was in their hospital."

"Good. Well there will not be a phone call because Howard is out there by the door. Should I go get him?" Roberta asked.

"Yes that would be nice." The officer said.

She stepped out of the room and scanned the room for Howard. There he was chatting to a nervous doctor that was still shocked that he was still alive. At the sound of the door, Howard looked over. He saw Roberta standing in the doorway leading to Gene and she was looking right at him. He gave her a questioning look that said _anything you need?_ And in answer she raised her arm and gestured for him to follow. So that's exactly what he did. He stepped in the door and closed it behind himself.

He looked directly at the now shocked Harold. This shocked thing was getting old, but the worst isn't here yet. That will come when its time to regain control over his company. And really she couldn't blame people for being so shocked. She was as well. Though really she had a reason. She was his best friend and his lawyer. They knew each other for what seemed like ages. Though Tony never met her son until he was eight and was sick and had nobody to take care of him so he was sent to Roberta and was pretty much forced to be Rhodey's friend, but really nobody was forced there. Their friendship was stronger than ever.

Harold shook his head. "Okay Mr. Stark you know the whole story?"

"Yes."

"Is it true when Roberta says that he kidnapped you _and _tried to get the still hospitalized Tony Stark to force you to get these magic rings?"

He voice held a tone of doubt in the 'magic rings' but most of it was masked with the shocked tone. It was really getting on Roberta's nerves.

"Of course it is!" Howard said as if it was obvious. Gene was scowling again instead of smirking.

"If we asked Tony if he was guilty what would he say right now?"

"Well right now I'm not sure because he's on pain meds and he's not thinking straight and he lost his memory of when he actually was using Tony, but Tony would still say that Gene is evil or guilty." Howard said.

Harold took a moment to think. His hand was on his chin with his other hand supporting his other arm. He was biting his lip in mid thought. His eyes narrowed again in thought. This whole ordeal dealt with so much little proof it was hard whether or not this was all just adults bullying a child. But when you look at the teen that is being accused he doesn't look guilty, but he has that smug look a criminal usually has when they got caught and was awaiting the crime sentence they're about to get. And yet he was also mad.

He opened his mouth to speak, but before a single word or sound was made, he saw Roberta hold her hand up. Signaling him that she had something else to add.

"Officer have you ever heard of a group of criminals called the Tong?" She asked. **(Okay to be honest I don't know the exact name of the people that used to work with the mandarin at the moment when I do if its wrong I'll change it.)**

"I think I've heard it being mentioned." The police officer said.

Howard leaned over and whispered something in her ear and she nodded realizing something wrong with her plan so she just fixed it in her head and after a moment she continued. "Well they used to work for him. He-with the rings-is call the Mandarin. A evil villain. I'm certain that Shield knows about him and if you would just call them, they'd give you all the info on him."

The officer nodded and called to the other cop to call and ask about it. He replied with a 'right on it'. So with the time being they just remained quiet. Then the officer turned to Gene. "You have anything to say?"

"What? That I'm innocent? I think it's pretty clear that I'm guilty. She seems to have all the proof at the tips of her fingers." He said sourly.

"So basically all your saying is that you're calling yourself guilty? Your not even going to fight against this?"

"I would, but honestly they have me pinned. They got what I was relying on. Though honestly Howard doesn't belief the rings are magic at all."

Confused the police officer turned to Howard who was just as confused. "What does he mean?"

"Well yes I don't believe the rings are magic but they do hold great power that can bring on much destruction if wished upon. And him wanting the power kidnaps and forces others to look for them in highly dangerous places that could get us killed and meaning you'd be a murderer. I only believe that they run on some kind of technology or something." Howard answered.

"Well your not dead old man." Gene pointed out with venom in his voice.

The tone of voice Gene replied with almost convinced Harold that he was guilty and he was saying that he did kidnap them and didn't deny anything else. So what would make him innocent? So far nothing. But until they got the reply to the phone call, they'd never be able to be sure if this was all just a lie. Which could get them all in jail for lying to the police. Or pranking them, but honestly the case seemed pretty solid so far. Unless they were all unconditionally good actors. But really why would Howard give up his company, let his son think he was dead, go missing for two years, and how exactly does one survive a plane crash without dying or medical attention?

After a little while of silence another police officer had came in and whispered a few things to Harold. It was long due to the fact that it took a while for the officer to pull away and nod before walking out.

Harold nods and squeezes him lips together in pure thought. "As thought you are correct with the fact that Mandarin is a villain and has the Tong working for him, but it is told that the tong has not been seen for almost a year. The mandarin hasn't been seen longer than that."

"That's because they don't work for him no more and he's been out looking for the rest of the rings." Howard added.

"So how many rings are there?"

"10."

"How many does he have now?"

"8"

"Does that give him a lot of power?"

"Yes. And he gets stronger with every ring he gets."

With a nod, Harold turns to Roberta. "Can you come with me real quick? Howard you come as well."

They both nod and leave as the officer sends someone to watch the door. Harold brings them to the room where all the doctors were. Well not all of them, but the ones that were free of time and were just awaiting answers. For some reason or the other. As they get out Roberta, knowing why they were dragged out, pulled out the rings once again. She put them in Harold's awaiting hands and he gazed at them with the same look Ben did.

For a moment he twisted them, mumbled incoherent words, and continued to examine the rings. Then he turned and called for Ben who was the other officer who left Rhodey with some other officer. Who came in less than two seconds. The two were mumbling things and finally at the last moment, Harold nodded and as Ben left and looked at the two adults.

"Well he knows a lot about these rings. Well not as much as you guys do, but enough to convince me that these are some dangerous rings and need to be in the correct hands. Like Shield. And Do you know who his parents or guardian is?"

"His step dad is evil as well." Howard stated. "No guardian. At all."

"OK. So your the people to go to if we get any further news about him." Harold said it just a fact not a question.

"So whats going to happen?" Roberta asked.

"Well first off we need to apologize to Rhodey for him being mistrusted at any moment and release him. With Gene, he's going to jail."

"For how long?" Roberta asked. Secretly wishing for life.

"Eh... its hard to say. I know it will be over three years for sure, but I'm pretty positive that it isn't for life. Or any longer than he'll live."

Slightly disappointed, Roberta nodded. "Okay Thanks."

"No thank you. You made this a whole lot easier. Both of you."

"No problem." Howard said.

"You guys may go."

Rhodey just walked out as Officer Harold finished saying that. He walked over to his mom and his friends father. He gave his mother a hug and the three headed out happily. They made their way through the silent and eerie hallway and up the stairs and elevator. Down the hallway and into Tony's room. The entire walk was silent except for hospitalized noises.

In the room Tony was awake. He was sitting up on the end of his bed his eyes red and puffy as if he was crying. Though when you looked close enough you could see that he really was crying but the tears haven't spilt yet. A nurse was in there taking his blood pressure muttering comforting words to him. Yinsen also stood in the room writing down results, Tony's shirt was off showing the pulsating light emitting from the heart implant. His face was staring off as if in space and for a moment he looked just as he had when he remembered his mothers death and Rhodey feared that he had forgotten his mothers death again and remembered it once again.

When the nurse was done she took out a small flash light, used a tissue to wipe some tears away, and held his head up by the chin as she flashed it back and forth and then held a finger in front and had him look at it before flashing the light again. She seemed to do that for longer than usual. Even from the door way they could hear her stressed sigh.

As if they just noticed there was people in the room other than them, Yinsen walked over to them.

"I will let you be in here if you don't talk and just sit. Tony's at a rough spot with his memory and I will allow you to help him when we're done with a few tests." He said and looked over at Tony who was watching as the nurse wrote somethings down and kept looking closely into his eyes as if something was wrong. "Oh Tony's the one that hit his head _and _got cut and poisoned right?"

"Yeah..." Roberta answered.

"Oh dear. Sorry just the other day another person lost their memory due to a hit head. It gets confusing. But so it doesn't eat at your heads I will tell you there is something wrong with Tony's eye dilation. Don't worry though because we know the reason. It was the head damage and poisoning."

Howard was still heart broken at the extensive damage and pain that his son had to go through because of Gene.

"We think the closest thing we can diagnose it with is the Marcus Gunn pupil. Which is when the eye shows absolutely none or little affects when light is applied. Again it was caused by Tony's head trauma and don't worry he didn't have brain damage. Luckily. There for making it less serious and it is most likely going to pass within 1-2 weeks. 3 at tops."

"What do you mean by pass?" Rhodey asked.

"Pass as in heal or go away. Really it isn't all that serious unless Tony's been poisoned multiple times or been on drugs and really strong ones at that, for a long time, but blood tests proved that other than medicine that has been prescribed to him there has been no drugs or alcohol. But that's all you need to know for now."

With that Yinsen left to help tend to Tony. Leaving his worried family sitting in the corner where all the chairs were. Roberta was worried sick, but she couldn't shake the happy feeling she had for Gene being away from her friends and family. She didn't like when people messed with them. Howard as well was worried sick. He was glad that he was back and Gene was put behind bars and that he could see his son again.

Rhodey, well you could say he was worried sick, but that would be an understatement. He was more like scared to death. He thought his best friend had enough issues and heath problems with his heart monitor and was lucky that the doctors now had a charger for him for when he goes to the hospital and needs to charge. Otherwise his heart implant would have failed long ago. But now his eyes are acting up as more and more of his traumatic memories come flooding back as he gets more and more better.

Rhodey knew that if Pepper was here and heard that Tony had that Marcus Gunn pupil thing, she be all hyperventilating and panicking. Though really it was unclear if they decided to date cause really they only got together in the hospital and it was only a kiss and a couple of kisses after that, but really it was out of worry that Tony would die or Tony's way of telling Pepper to be strong if he died. Though in Rhodey's opinion it would be both idiotic and ridiculous to not date for they both like-liked each other and that they already kissed and none of them denied or disliked it.

It seemed like for ever for their simple tests were done and they were allowed to visit Tony. It was almost past 3 in the morning and all of them were sleep walking zombies, but they fought through it to talk to Tony.

Roberta and Howard were back in the corner giving Rhodey as much privacy as they could in the room that was only slightly bigger than the room Tony was in after his supposed 'car crash'. Rhodey was leaning on his elbows on the bed that Tony was laying in. Tony was on his side facing Rhodey and the adults. Rhodey and Tony were talking though with the small space the others could hear everything. And luckily for the teens that they knew.

"Tony everything is going to turn out alright." Rhodey reassured his sad friend.

"I know." Tony whispered his voice cracked even then.

"What happened? I mean with your memory and all?" Rhodey asked. "I mean really if you don't want to i-"

"No its fine. I think I need to talk."

That was a first.

"It was just memory after memory. Non stop wouldn't pause for me to let the previous memory sink in. My mom's death, my dads 'death', you getting hurt from the armor, Gene, my near death experience."

"Tony you have a lot of those." Rhodey pointed out.

"I mean the one you used the 'car crash' excuse on. Whiplash. But really I remember it all, but I can't help but think I'm forgetting something."

"Does it have to do with Pepper?"

"Pepper..." Tony said deep in thought.

_Oh no. don't tell me he forgot her! _Rhodey thought.

"No. If your thinking about the kiss, then no I remember that."

"Rhona? Andy?"

"The android and his sister? No. She kidnapped me."

Rhodey relieved that Pepper wasn't forgotten in that mind of his smiled slightly.

"How about school, Whitney, or even Happy?"

"School, no, Happy no...Whitney?"

"You remember her?"

"No. Should I?"

"You dated her once. Pepper did not like that. Though you were never happy with her."

"So I take that as yes I should know her... Well that's probably whats missing."

"Anything else. Like Me? Roberta my mom?"

Tony scratched his head. "Mostly."

"Mostly what's that supposed to mean?"

"Well I'm still a bit foggy on things." '

Tony and Rhodey both yawned heavily. Not to long later they were both asleep. Rhodey his on one of Tony's arms and of course Tony on his side.

The two adults were falling asleep as well and were hoping that nothing important happened and that they would just be allowed a nights rest, fell asleep on their own chairs. Both of their heads resting against the wall.

That night was the most peaceful night they all had in what seemed like ages.

**The ending was sooo rushed! I'm sorry for that and sorry for anything else that may be out of place. BUT yeah. Oh and i'm finishing it soon and i would like to know any last minute requests or ideas for a chapter you'd like. Remember that i'd like them as soon as possible. So i don't think i'm not getting any ideas and start my own then get an idea and happen to like it more and have to restart. ****  
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**Well i'm happy for the end of school! And the new episodes for Iron Man AA! XD I think that Tony and Howard are going to be back together! Sorry i had to say that. Cause if you look up Iron man armored adventures on google or what not and go to the episode listing the next two episodes after "doomsday" say Stark's' not stark. So two starks. unless that was messed up. Then i'll be mad. Sorry if that was a spoiler and you are mad at me. But i need somebody to tell as i said in my story 'baby genius'.  
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**So any reviews and ideas for endings for little ol'me SilverPedals? O.O  
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	14. Memories, than maybe war?

**First off, I'm SOO SORRY for the long wait! I've been awfully busy and i got writers block on this story, and again i've been busy. But i'm not going to list them because i already did on one of my other stories and the list has grown since then too. ANYWAYS i hope this chapter is good for i wrote it still thinking if it was the best way, but i rewritten it like 3 times and thought just forget it post the next one it will be fine. And no this isn't the last chapter, but i think the next one will be. Just a warning. **

**Well thanks for the reviews and if you have any last minute ideas now would be best. or a soon as possible.  
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**I do not own nothing nor will i ever...  
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The next day everybody was calm and peaceful. Really they were. It was like a sweet blissfulness of peace that nobody even expected. They expected more stress from the recent events and the all the worry that would come when Pepper had ran into the room. But she only took Rhodey's spot by Tony and comforted him when he was upsetted.

"So what's with the whole deal with the eye thing Rhodey mentioned?" She asked.

"Nothing too bad. Just my eyes will be a bit sensitive to light. For only a couple of weeks. Not all to bad. I guess I forgot Whitney though...is that a bad thing?" Tony answered.

"If you ask me. No not at all. But I guess it could be cause without that memory it means you're still missing some of your memory. But its not as bad as it could have been. I mean your dad is here, and Gene is in Jail, you remember pretty much everything and shouldn't that be all that matters?"

"Yeah, but what if I hadn't gotten my memory back?"

She only shook her head. "You got to stop thinking on the low side of things Tony. You have most of your memory. Be happy with it. don't be upset about what could've been."

Rhodey had chosen that moment to budge in on the conversation. He always found a moment. "Pepper even though you can sometimes talk too much, I think that was the most sensible thing I ever heard you say."

Tony laughed slightly. Pepper only let it slid because it made him laugh. He was finally in more of an upbeat mood. He through out the next morning hour laughed more than any of them did. Roberta had gone off to work, and Howard stayed and just read while the teens hung out. He'd look over at them and smiled.

It was later when the doctor came in when everyone settled down. Tony was eying the doctor nervously afraid that he was going to say something bad. But the doctor only smiled at him.

"Tony, you are going home today."

Tony smiled. Rhodey and Pepper high-fived and Howard chuckled at their excitement.

"When?" Tony asked.

"In an hour. Your father here just needs to sign some papers and then we check them over and we'll be looking at your eye once more."

Tony nodded and the doctor left. Though they were all happy to see that Tony was able to come home, they were still worried that once they got there Tony would have a break down. They couldn't help it. The last time he was home he was looking for Rhodey who had gone missing. And then he himself got kidnapped. The last real time he was home he was having that complete meltdown about his mother. Hopefully that didn't happen again.

Howard broke the silence with a sneeze. Which cause Tony to jump and literally smack Rhodey in the nose.

"Ow!" Rhodey shouted and held his nose.

"Sorry!" Tony said looking in worry at his friend.

"I'm fine."

Pepper giggled at what a sneeze could cause. Only a sneeze caused Tony to jump, smack Rhodey, and then panic thinking he hurt him. But Rhodey had much worse cause he was War machine after all.

Howard in shock was watching it all unfold. He was the one that sneezed and he didn't even know that it would do that. It was only a sneeze.

"You sure your fine?"

Rhodey sniffed and rubbed his nose. He nodded. Then he too sneezed.

"Stop sneezing!" Pepper cried out.

Everybody started to laugh. It was a cheerful laugh that again echoed off the walls. Everybody was happy. They all had a good reason to be happy. Howard was back, Tony was fine, in Rhodey's case—his friends were finally together. Just the question didn't pop up yet. Tony was also going home that day. It was all so exciting.

Happily Pepper gave Tony a hug and he hugged back. Both were smiling. As everybody else was. Howard continued to sign the papers with a cheerful attitude. The teens talked to each other happily and the doctor walked in to do one last check up.

Only 5 minutes later, Tony was freed. He was allowed to leave finally and he had literally jumped off the hospital bed and he laughed. Yes he was in a weird mood. A very weird mood, but everyone else was so there was nothing wrong with being excited.

Stretching, Tony looked at his dad. "So where to?"

Howard chuckled and smiled. "To your house of course."

"Uh...I don't have a house. I'm seventeen."

"Right, I meant where you've been living since I was gone."

"Right. Then lets go catch a cab."

Together they walked out, Howard giving his clip board or paperwork to the doctor and waved their goodbyes, they left. They did catch a cab and paid him in advance to the address. They drove in silence, but a happy sort of silence.

Tony was thinking about so many things. He couldn't get his mind off the fact that he told Roberta that he was Iron man. He remembered that. He remembered being kidnapped. Her remembered his identity being revealed to a group of people, Happy being one of them, and he couldn't figure out who it was that was all there with him. He suspected that Pepper and Rhodey had been there, but he couldn't remember who else. The Whitney person, he had no idea where she was from, what she looked like, or even the smallest detail. Well that was a lie. He felt that he should know her. Maybe it was just the guilt that he forgot his ex-girlfriend. How could he? Maybe she wasn't a big part of his life. Then again he remembered Happy and he only remembered seeing Happy at school or occasionally for school projects. He faintly remembered doing most of his homework, another reason why he hasn't flunked high school yet.

He remembered small things like the one time he had a strawberry banana smoothie when everyone had said that they were gonna have chocolate. He remembered, the Arthur Parks kid. Even the time when the whole team iron man went to Happy's lame birthday that he broke his ankle on. Though he also recalled that he did it only cause Pepper was going to be there and that she threatened that she'd kill the two if they didn't arrive. But mostly, he went cause she was there.

So who was this Whitney? But he wasn't to worried about that cause he did hide something from them. He couldn't really think what happened in the first place that made him lose his memory. He couldn't really think of what it was.

His thoughts were paused as the taxi stopped and everyone except for him was out of the car. He apologized and hurried to get out and stood by his friends still deep in thought about what he remembered.

They walked through the block that it took to get there for the house was across a field, Tony trailed behind still thinking hard.

Then almost like an imaginary wall smashing into him, he stopped. That's when he heard the voices. They were memories, most likely that he'd forgotten and hadn't mentioned.

"_Why is it always red?" "So why are you making a water suit anyways?" "Distress call?" "9...11 of them..." "Blankets?"_

Some were the same voice, some were different. He knew they were the three of them, but why was it so important?

"_DANG IT!" "What are you two doing?-Just be careful" -"Sorry Pep." _

It was muffled like it was underwater. Just understandable... New voices would come in at times...

"_How would we get harmed?" "Yeah!" "We choose at random at who goes first." _

That was the last of the words that he heard but just as they ended he saw something as if it was a slide show of pictures and scenes flashing in his mind at top speed. It was confusing at first what it was, then he was understanding them.

_The darts...his boot jet...the tree...nothing._

Memories?

_Hospital. "And I'm tony...Stark. Right?" "He lost his memory. He doesn't remember a thing." School. Home..._

The next one he wasn't expecting. He shouldn't be expecting any of this. It was in his head. He was most likely being delusional. He had to be. It was the only logical explanation for visions and voices.

"_Hey mommy!" _what? _"Have a nice day at school?" _Oh no. _"Yes I even made a new friend!" Then the whistling...the cab...the gun...the actual gun shots... "You can't run!" Her stumbling...him defenseless, holding his mother...the blood... "Tony everything will be alright.- Go to daddy." _

He shook his head. "Stop."

They continued.

_The blood was horrible...her tears...her face...his face and tears...only about 5 years old..._

It was not done... _"Yay, I'm rich!" Laughter... silence...then the screams... _he was in a plane...

He was shaking. He blinked his eyes and realized he had them shut. He felt cold despite the warmer weather. He couldn't breath right. He looked forward realizing that he had stopped walking less than half way to the house. But something about what just happened, was more odd. What did they mean? They were memories and he remembered most of them now...except for the first one...

* * *

><p>They were walking to house not paying attention to much around them. They were too happy to really look around to see what was really going on. She looked around as they got to the door. Something was missing. Something was wrong...No it was some<em>one. <em>Tony. She turned around causing the other two to do the same.

"Tony?" Pepper shouted worriedly.

Shocked at her sudden out burst and the realization that they indeed weren't with Tony. They looked around, and almost passed out with relief. Tony stood closer to the street than he was to the house, looking down. Instantly they made their way to him.

Pepper was worried. _I thought he was supposed to be okay. _She frowned as they got closer to him.. she noticed that his eyes were shut but his eyes were moving as if watching something move behind his eyelids. Or that he was having a nightmare. They finally got close to him and she was the first there. She frowned as she saw that he was sweating and shaking.

She placed her hand on his shoulder meant to be in a comforting way. He didn't even seem to acknowledge that she was there. "Tony."

No reply.

"Tony whats wrong?"

His eyes blinked open now and he wasn't even seeing them. He shook and trembled and she saw the distant look in his eyes. _no... _She didn't know what she was worrying about, but Tony seemed to have had another memory or something like that.

He turned to her. "What...?" He sounded more confused than she felt.

"What happened."

"Mom..." He said looked down. Then he shook his head and blinked as if he didn't even take notice that he said something.

"Oh." Pepper said not really knowing what to say about that. He already had that memory. Had he lost it again and just got it back _again._ She instead of saying something, put her arms around his waist in comfort. She squeezed tightly and swore that she'd never truly let go. Never.

"Memories. that's what Happened." Tony mumbled as he hugged her back hiding in her hair. "I remember."

"Whitney?" Pepper said curiously.

"No." Tony said with a slight laugh. "The crash."

"The plane crash?"

"Well that was part of it. But no the other one. The tree... the darts."

"Then...then why did you say 'mom'?" She said softly not trying to pry. She felt him tense, but he answered.

"S-she was part of it too. I heard her voice again..."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be." He pulled back realizing the others were there as well. The two blushed and the two laughed.

"Okay... what just happened?" Rhodey asked.

"Pepper saved my life. As always." Tony said shrugging. He ran off before Rhodey could make fun of him as he remembered that he always did when it came to him and Pepper.

Pepper watched him run with a smile on her face. He was going to be alright. He really was. So she ran off to join him at the house and yelled after him, "Wait up!"

Rhodey laughed and raced after the two with a smile on his face. "Hey! Wait! Wait for me!"

Howard only chuckled to himself with pride. Those teens would be the death of him. Them. Though he watched as Pepper and Rhodey finally caught up to Tony and continued to watch as he made his way there slowly, as Tony tripped and the other two tripped over him and soon it was a pile of teens. All sandwiching onto Tony. They laughed as they laid on their backs.

Howard just got close enough to hear what they were saying. It was odd, but funny. He had to love those teens.

"WAR!" Pepper screamed.

"War with what?" Rhodey said. Tony only eyed Pepper nervously remembering how devious she could be when she wanted to be.

Pepper ran off to the side of the house. Rhodey and Tony looked at each other wearily. Howard sat at the steps of the house finding the recent Newspaper on the steps as well.

Pepper came back holding a rake that was in the back from the last house Rhodey had lived at. She walked over to them. "Okay so this is just a glove right?"

"Yeah." Rhodey said.

Pepper nodded and took the other glove off of the left glove and ran over by the window near the steps and Howard and placed it there. She ran back to her friends. "The person with the glove is it, and their goal is to touch someone with the glove before they get _in _the house. The people running must come up with a plan to get in the house and past Howard, he right now is just a road block cause I or the person with the glove, stands out about ten feet away from the steps. Guarding the door. If one person makes it and one person gets tagged, then they start over. You both have to make it at least to the door. Any questions?"

"Are we supposed to hide and sneak our way in or charge it?" Rhodey asked.

"Either way."

"What about my stitches?" Tony asked.

"Just be careful. Anyways you afraid of going back to the hospital and getting them replaced?" Pepper said.

"No. I'm fine just wondering."

"Good I'll start as glove man person." Pepper stated. "Wait! I forgot something. The person it cannot go in the back unless they see someone and is running after them. Other wise the 'it' person has to stay here. And NO getting help from Howard."

Howard looked up at the mention of his name. "What?"

"Oh its nothing Howard! Just that your going to be the road block in our game! AND DO NOT help them! Their goal is to get to the other side of you and to the door without being touched by the gloved hand."

Howard laughed and nodded.

She smiled and yelled, "RUN! I give you 20 seconds to get out of my sight before I try to get you."

the two boys ran behind the house as fast as they could. Panting they stopped checking behind them wondering what was going on.

"This was the weirdest thing Pepper has had us do." Rhodey said.

"I know. I remember everything except for that Whitney person." Tony panted.

"Dude your girlfriend is crazy."

"What?"

"Don't deny it!" Rhodey breathed. "You are going to ask her out."

"Whatever. Lets just find away past her and to the door."

"Right."

The two took a moment to catch their breath and think up of a plan. It didn't take long for Tony was still a genius. And they ran around both ways. It was not an original plan, but it worked. Sometimes.

The plan was to have Rhodey step out gain her attention and then she'd go running and he'd go running, then Tony would yell out to her getting her attention before they got far, then they just run around the house like mad until they got to the house door.

Rhodey stepped out and Pepper was looking the way Tony was supposed to come out. "Pepper!"

Pepper turned around and spotted Rhodey, though she didn't do what Rhodey thought she'd do instead of running towards I'm she ran away from him the way Tony was waiting around the corner. Oh no. She knew the plan.

"TONY RUN!" He screamed out. Howard looked up in amusement. He put down his newspaper and watched as Rhodey chased after Pepper who seemed like she was setting her sights on Tony. He laughed as Rhodey kept yelling for Tony to make a run for it.

And he did. He ran around the house to the back Pepper about 10 feet away and closing. Rhodey ran the other way as he realized that Tony got the idea. He stopped running in the middle of the front of the yard about 12 feet away from Howard. He was panting.

He stood still waiting for any sign of Pepper or Tony. But none came. He frown it was silent. Did Tony get caught he looked over to Howard who was looking at him. Howard only shrugged.

"RHODEY RUN!" Tony yelled coming out around the corner.

"What?" He said turning around and Pepper was almost right there, but he dodged and she over ran in and tripped. He ran to Tony as Pepper got up and the two ran around circles of the house until they thought they'd lost her.

They stood by the window with the left handed glove by it. Panting they slowly made it to the steps, but Tony stopped Rhodey. "What? We're literally standing before the steps."

"Yes, but Wheres Pepper? She just disappeared." Tony said looking around seeing nothing.

"I dunno." Rhodey said looking around. "Lets just get up there, then we'll check for her."

"Okay." Tony replied. He and Rhodey made their way to the first step, but it was short lived as a screech came from the bushes nearby. The two teens jumped and turned to see Pepper with her gloved hand raised racing towards them. They ran to get up the stairs, but the whole three people on the steps didn't work.

"Rhodey, she's gonna get us."

"No she's not."

"We can't get pass dad with out going one person at a time and one of us has to back away."

"oh..." Rhodey said.

Soon enough Pepper had caught them and they continued to play. Roberta got back to Pepper and Rhodey running away screaming as Tony chased them with one of her garden gloves on. She raised an eyebrow and made her way to the steps and sat by an amused Howard.

"What is going on?"

"Some kind of War game." Howard said. "I'm road block."

"Oh so I am to... looks like they cant get past us."

Howard laughed. "No they can't."

"So Tony wins."

"Yep."

They watched as the teens ran and Rhodey was the first to realize that the door was completely blocked off. He had stopped in shock at what the adults were doing. There for getting him tagged. They lost. Only one of their games landed in success to getting to the door and that was when Rhodey was it.

They laughed as they finished up their game and everyone went inside and ate. It was a pretty peaceful day. Everything was going great. And Pepper and Rhodey even have a plan to meet up with Whitney the next day to see if it would trigger anything. But for the moment, they enjoyed their night that they were together. Pepper had slept over, despite it being a school night...

Their plan: Meet with Whitney at lunch and talk to her and if that didn't work than they'd arrange a separate meeting to have more time.

Hopefully it worked.

**Okay so the last part was just a bit of goofing off, but sometime i will add that to a story, just as a filler cause i have nothing else to do. But the next chapter will have Whitney and of course Happy. Then it'll have some sort of sweet ending that maybe someone would give me an idea for, otherwise i'll think of something... Well hope it was okay for you guys and if your confused about what he remembers, he pretty much remembers everything except for whitney. AND maybe a bit of Gene... but there will be no more Gene in this story... oh well i don't really like him. Though i have a feeling about him maybe being good, but i don't know, i'll just have to wait for the rest of the episodes come out. I'm a bit behind. Actually i'm not i forgot that the first part of the season finally hasn't shown yet. But i'll stop talking. REVIEW? -oh and sorry for OOCish like charactors...**


	15. Meeting with Whitney

**So sorry for the long wait. Had to leave town for a couple of days and schools coming up fast. So yeah... This is the final chapter, and it is a bit long so i had thought to split it, but thought otherwise. SO this is the final chapter. :( This story was fun.  
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** And i forgot about the whole whitney going evil thing and i don't remember if i already put this, but Obadiah never went into his coma, but he no longer works at stark international. No iron monger deal Whitney/madam masque deal.  
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It was the next day and Rhodey and Tony were just heading out for school. Howard had a mission of his own to go get his company back, and once that was done, he'd figure out where he and his son would live.

"So whats the plan again?" Tony asked.

"Well we're planning on having you meet up with Whitney and you two can talk and stuff, maybe that'll bring some memory back." Rhodey said as he pulled out his phone. "I'm going to call Pepper."

She answered the phone not too long after it started ringing. "Hello?"

"Hey Pepper." Rhodey spoke.

"Rhodey?"

"Yep. Where are you?"

"I'm already at school." She said confused. "Why aren't you guys?"

"Well, You know Tony. Always sleeping in. Just kidding, he spilt his cereal and all the towels were either gone or dirty."

"Oh okay." She said. "Well the bells are about to ring, so you better hurry."

She hung up as did Rhodey. He grabbed Tony wrist and pulled him along across the street in a rush.

Tony as they hurried into the school building busied himself with thoughts of this Whitney person. He understood well enough that they were friends. At one point they were more than friends. But that didn't last long. His thoughts were cut off by the warning bell and he and Rhodey continued to rush to gather their stuff for class.

…

Later, at lunch the three made sure after they ate that they were able to find Whitney. After scanning the lunch room, they figured she had decided to eat on the roof, so they took little to no time to go up there. There she was sitting on a ledge not to far from the stairs. They loudly made their way to her.

"Hey Whitney." Rhodey called.

She turned around and smiled. "Oh, hey Rhodey. Hey Tony."

Tony waved and didn't say much. Though Rhodey made sure to sit him down next to Whitney.

"What's going on?" Whitney asked confused.

Before anyone could answer Happy ran up the stairs yelling, "Why didn't you guys invite me to this...meeting?"

"Because you're loud and obnoxious." Whitney said annoyed.

Pepper rolled her eyes not even bothering to reply. "We need to deal with something more important then inviting more people to something that was meant to be a bit private."

"Private? There's so many people up here."

"Only us and Whitney." Rhodey pointed out.

Happy held his hands up in fake surrender. "Okay okay. I get it, you guys don't like me, so I'll just go sit in the corner..." He mumbled as he sat down, yet he was staring at the group while rolling around a basket ball he brought up with him.

Rhodey sighed and turned to Whitney and Tony. "Tony, got his memory back-"

"That's great!" Whitney said throwing Tony a hug.

Tony's face would have been funny if they weren't being serious.

"But," Rhodey said gaining her attention once more. "He didn't get it all back."

Her face fell sorta getting the vibe of what was going on. "Go on..."

"He doesn't remember...you." Rhodey said.

She narrowed her eyes. "So your telling me, that he got his memory back, but he doesn't even remember, me, who was his only friend that _wasn't _a robot before he met you?"

Rhodey nodded. "Don't be mad, it wasn't anyone's fault."

"Yes it is, it's whoever decided to hit his head's fault!"

"Whitney, we're still unsure what was going on at the island, we weren't even there when he hit his head. How are we supposed to know who's really at fault?"

Whitney sighed. "Whatever, but what are you doing here anyways?"

Rhodey opened his mouth to speak, but it wasn't him that spoke. It was Pepper. "We're here to help Tony remember you. If it was me that was choosing what to do, we wouldn't even bother, but Tony's my friend so I won't let him just forget someone."

Whitney rolled her eyes. "Jeez no need to spaz."

Pepper stepped forward, but Rhodey just threw his arm in her way. "Pepper! Calm down."

She crossed her arms and glared at Whitney. She couldn't stand her, but the only reason she agreed to come was to be sure that Tony didn't have an 'episode' where something bad comes to memory and he starts freaking out or what not. Though that was unlikely she still felt that it was best to be near by, since she figured they were dating now.

Tony looked over to Whitney and she did the same. Tony tilted his head slightly and eyed Whitney. Whitney narrowed her eyes in response and opened her mouth to say something, but closed it when Rhodey shook his head at her meaning, 'no, don't say anything.' So she turned to Tony again.

It was a few minutes later, and Tony showed no sign of knowing who Whitney was. So she sighed and looked down before looking to Rhodey. "Would it help if he come to my place later? He spent a lot of time there when we were little."

Pepper rolled her eyes ready to turn the offer down, but Rhodey nodded. "Yeah. That sounds like a good idea."

Whitney looked to Pepper then back to Rhodey. "Just drop him off. It would be best if he was alone, because he didn't know you guys and maybe that could throw him off."

"No way." Pepper said flat toned. "There's no way he's going there without me. Or at least Rhodey."

"Pepper." Rhodey said reasonably. "She has a point. It needs to seem as it was when he was younger. We weren't in his life back then."

With a glare at Whitney Pepper nodded. Nothing else was able to be said except Whitney telling Rhodey the time. She said it had to be after 5:30 cause she was going to be busy shopping.

Pepper all day long still couldn't get why she or Rhodey couldn't be there. He remembered his mom just fine without having to be at his old house or even where it happened. Then again, the movie triggered it first. But still he remembered pretty much everything else in a hospital bed. Despite usually being the one that's upbeat, happy, and chatty, she wasn't for the last hours of school.

At the moment they were walking home from school. Pepper had already called her dad and said that she was going to Rhodey's house to hang out. Howard was at Rhodey's house as well having succeeded in getting is company back and Roberta was helping him find a place to live. Which was sort of a sad time for Rhodey and Tony who wouldn't be living together anymore.

"So we have about 2 and a half hours til Tony is going to Whitney's." Pepper said as they walked onto the block of the house they were heading to.

"Yep." Tony said. As little as he was involved in the conversation on the roof, he of course was fully up to date with what was going on.

"What do we do?"

There was a moment pause before anyone decided to answer. No one knew exactly what they were going to do.

"Hang out most likely. We could go to the armory." Rhodey said as they walked up the stairs to his door.

The other two didn't reply as they followed him up the steps and through the door. After each of them removed their shoes, they made way to the living room. Howard was still talking to Roberta about his living situation in the kitchen not far away from the living room.

The three teens walked into the kitchen to get something to drink, and Pepper plopped down into a chair next to Roberta and put her head on her arms. Howard who was sitting on the other side of the table looked over at her with his eyebrows raised.

"Long day?" He asked.

She looked over. "Yeah..."

"Whats wrong? You seem down."

Rhodey and Tony got them all water and Tony took the edge seat next to Pepper. Rhodey sat by Howard. Tony rested his head in his own arms and looked at Pepper blankly.

"It's just Whitney." She said shaking her head.

Rhodey was the one that spoke up now. "Pepper if you're worried about tonight, we could always hook up a microphone."

"Where?" she asked in a mono tone.

"Right," Rhodey began as he pulled the unsuspecting Tony up. "Here." He finished as he pulled at the collar of Tony's red shirt.

Tony set his head back down and continued to watch as Pepper stressed. He wanted to do something, but he didn't know what.

"It wouldn't work. She'd see it, and flip out, then she wouldn't help Tony." She said as she finally realized what Tony was doing. There was a moment of silence when she looked into his tired eyes. She wondered what he was thinking, just the look on his face made it look like a million thoughts were flooding his mind.

"Pep." Tony mumbled.

Pepper tilted her head that was still in her arms. "Hmm?"

He moved one arm out from under his head and placed it on her shoulder. His thumb rubbed circles to the back of her shoulder. "What are you worried about?"

She smiled softly from the touch. "Well, I don't really know...I'm just..."

"Jealous?" Rhodey blurted. She glared at him.

"No!"

"I don't care." Tony spoke so softly, he hardly was heard.

"What?" Pepper asked looking away from Rhodey's smirk.

"I don't care. You're worried she'll try to do something other than help me with my memory, is that it?"

She bit her lip slowly nodded. "I guess..."

"Well there is nothing to worry about, cause I am with you. I'm yours."

She laughed. "As sappy as that sounds."

"As sappy as that sounds." he confirmed with a small smile.

Rhodey rolled his eyes. "As cute as you two are together, can you please get a room or something? Keep your lovey dovey moments there."

"Ew no." Tony said instantly. Rhodey chuckled. Pepper could only blush. "You are mean Rhodey."

"How? From expressing myself?"

Tony rolled his eyes before closing them. Pepper sat up and glared at Rhodey.

Roberta and Howard had seen what had happened, but when it got silent they went back to looking at houses. The only sound was the two adults talking for awhile. When Tony stood up and looked at the time.

"We still have 2 hours."

"Til what?" Howard asked.

"I go to Whitney's."

"Right, the plan." Howard said going back to his own business.

The other two teens stood up as well and followed as Tony made his way to the living room. "How about we play a board game?"

Rhodey shook his head. "No. We never finish."

"Okay..." Tony said thinking.

"Ooh! How about, hide and seek!?" Pepper squealed.

Again Rhodey shook his head. "Played enough of that."

They threw around ideas to play something, but when nothing good came up, they decided to just settle down and watch some TV. Tony and Pepper sat on the couch while Rhodey sat on the chair. They found a movie to watch that was on TV and began to watch it. Not long later, the adults joined them. Though they ended up squishing Pepper to Tony who had in turn squished himself into the end of the couch.

He had fallen asleep before the movie ended. He was woken when his two hours were up and he had to go.

He didn't take long til he had his shoes on and his backpack armor. Rhodey and Pepper went with him to drop him off since he didn't know where Whitney lived.

They drove in silence. They took Rhodey's car that he recently bought. When they got there, Tony gave Pepper a kiss on the cheek. "Don't worry." He said before stepping out of the car.

Whitney was waiting for him and greeted him with a smile. "Hey Tony!"

He only nodded as she waved for him to follow. He did as gestured and followed her to a medium sized house. Then he followed her through halls as she pointed out which door led to what, and she even told him some of the things they did. They ended up in a small but big room.

"This is my room." She said sitting on the bed.

Tony nodded and sat in the chair nearby. With a smile Whitney stood up and dug around in some drawers. When she pulled away from the drawers she sat back down and handed Tony some pictures. Though she dragged him to sit on the bed with her.

He looked through the pictures.

"That one we went to a national park together. Your mom took us. We were five. That was the last time I saw your mom..." She stopped as she saw the look on Tony's face. "Sorry..."

He moved on to the next picture. Whitney explained that it was them at Stark international looking out the window from the top floor in Howard's office. Then the next which was the two sitting on a couch at her house. There was more with the two just playing around or at a mall, or at stark international. He looked through them with the sense that he knew something.

He finished looking at the photos and handed them back to Whitney. He looked around for a moment looking dazed, but focused.

"Do you remember something?" She questioned.

He nodded only slightly. "I remember being here."

"Yeah, we were in this room a lot." Whitney noted.

With a frown he looked to Whitney. "Why did I forget you?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. But if you ask me, I think Pepper prefers it when you don't remember me."

"Yeah, you guys don't get along do you?" Tony asked with a small smile. "Why, though?"

She looked away. "I don't know."

"Okay," Tony said and he continued to look around. "When did we first meet?"

"We were both three when we first met, that's what our parents said. I don't remember much before 5 years though." She said.

"Oh." was all Tony said in response.

For awhile Tony asked questions about stuff of their past and Whitney answered them. Simple. Then after a while they ate and watched some TV. They just about gave up on Tony fully remembering her when it was getting a bit late.

But just as he got up to leave, he saw something from the corner of his eye. It was a box stored in the corner of her room. But it had a tag on it saying, "Arts and crafts"

"What's that?" He asked pointing to the box.

She smiled and laughed. "That is our arts and crafts box. I forgot about that one. When we were about 6 or 7 we decided to put any art that we made into that box. Then when we were older we would look at them and see how good we were at art."

He walked over to it and opened it. Clay projects, paintings, drawings, and more filled the box. They all had the name of whoever made what. He pulled out a few things that had his name on it that looked somewhat familiar. He smiled as memories filled his mind. Him and Whitney laughing as they ran around a park, the two drawing in the middle of Howard's office almost tripping anyone that walked in. being home schooled together. Then the other things as they got older and hung out with each other then the time they dated, and more. Even the deal with Madam Masque.

He set down what was in his hands and looked to Whitney with a new look. It wasn't happy, but it wasn't sad. It was amazed and shocked. But he was happy. "I remember..."

Her eyebrows shot up happily. "Really!?"

"Yeah." he laughed.

She gave him a hug and he awkwardly returned it. "Good."

They pulled away and she led him to the door. She couldn't stop smiling. He remembered her. She didn't expect it to work, cause she seen movies with people with amnesia and they didn't remember at all this fast. Then again, Tony was a genius. He could anything. Anything he did shocked the people around him.

She waved at him as he left to catch a taxi ride home. "Bye!"

"Bye Whitney." Tony called back.

She returned to her house with a smile not minding as her father grumpily walked out asking what she was so happy about.

…

(At Rhodey's place.)

Pepper had gone home after it started getting late. She tried to listen to Tony's words that she didn't have to worry, and that he was hers, she still worried. She couldn't help it. Though she hoped that he remembered Whitney. Though as always there was a part of her that hoped that he wouldn't remember.

Rhodey had busied them with homework and small talk while they waited the night out. When she left he waited patiently on the couch for Tony to return. Howard was still spending a few days with them until he found the right place and got situated. He was sitting on the chair flipping from the news to the old newspapers. He smiled every time read something about iron man. His son.

He was still a bit upset that he lost his memory and he tended to get hurt a lot more than he usually did with his inventions. And with the damage he did sometimes, but at least he was saving the world.

It was abut 8:30 when they heard the clicking of the door. Rhodey was the first one up and running to the door to see if it was Tony. When he saw that it was Tony who was smiling, he laughed as he walked up to him.

"So how'd it go?"

"Good." Tony replied.

"Remember anything?"

Tony laughed and nodded. "Sure do. It took awhile, but I guess it took me to look at an arts and craft box to remember anything helpful."

"So you remember just a bit."

"No almost all of it. Or all of it that's important."

Rhodey smiled and grabbed Tony's arm and dragged him to the living room. "Howard!" He called.

Tony shook his head and let his friend drag him to the living room. Howard was sitting in a chair smiling at Rhodey's excitement. "What?"

"Tony remembers everything." Rhodey said with a smile.

"Good." Howard said getting up to hug his son.

Tony hugged him back and yawned. After being told that he should get some rest, he got a glass of water and smiled as he went to his room and slept.

…

The next day was pretty normal. Rhodey and Tony ate breakfast, walked to school, met Pepper there, went to class, talked to Whitney at lunch with a bit of Pepper vs Whitney, and left school.

On their way home, Pepper had out of the blue, asked for some alone time with Tony, and with a chuckled and a smirk, Rhodey left the two alone. Just as asked.

Pepper steered Tony away from home and to a park bench. They sat down with Tony looking at Pepper oddly. "What's up, Pep?"

She sighed not really knowing what to say or at least how to say it. Saying stuff was easy, but when it was to the person she loved, it wasn't the easiest thing to do. She might think it would be easier to climb a tree with only one arm and no legs.

"I'm not sure what exactly to say, but..." Pepper started as she looked away.

"Is this still about Whitney?" Tony asked.

She shook her head. "Not at all."

There was a pause and the two just sat in silence. Pepper knew there shouldn't be anything to be worried about, but she was still a bit shy to talk. Yes she talked a lot and all the time, but it wasn't ever personal. When it is she just gets...shy.

Looking at Tony she took a deep breath. "Things changed."

"Like what?"

"You. Before any of this happened, you wouldn't be all sappy, you wouldn't be so...so straight with things."

Tony tilted his head. "Is that a...bad thing?"

"Not exactly," Pepper said looking down. "Its just that your not the Tony I fell in love with."

"Oh..." Tony commented looking away. He figured it would lead to this.

"I'm not breaking up with you or anything, its just I'm upset. Before you were more guarded and you didn't let anyone in. Now you tell everyone what they ask. Then you're off _asking _the questions, and you're not as strong. You're...open." Pepper said.

Tony remained silent. He remembered that. He remembered being closed off, he remembered not telling his friends everything and hiding things. He remembered that he was much more strong and things didn't upset him easily. Now flashes of lost memory brought tears to his eyes and he was the one asking the questions and not the one answering them.

"I just don't..." Pepper started again. "I don't know what to with it."

Tears welled up in her eyes and she looked away again. Tony had moved to rub her back comfortingly, but she scooted away. Tony pulled his hand back slowly. He wasn't sure where this was heading anymore. He didn't even know what to say.

"Maybe we should just take a break." Pepper finally spoke. "I need space to think out some things. I need time to get used to you not being like you were before." She sniffed and rubbed the tears that had fallen away.

Tony sighed. As upset as he was with this, he understood that she wanted space. He would be nice and give it to her. Even as upset it made him. So instead of fighting it, he just gave her a soft kiss on the cheek and whispered, "Take as much time as you need, Pep."

With that he got up and walked away giving Pepper her space.

…

Howard was signing some final papers for a house when Tony got to Rhodey's house. Rhodey had already started on homework and Roberta had started cooking dinner for the four of them. He had stepped through the door his mind flying at speeds he thought impossible.

His mind was still glued to Peppers words._ "Its just that you're not the Tony I fell in love with."_

He didn't know how it came to this, but he understood why. It was simple. He changed. Not on purpose, but on accident. It was the incident that stole his memory and old personality. He remembered the island, and that it had 11 people on it. He remembered crashing down and seeing nothing, but with all of that he still didn't get what it was that was shooting at them.

It could've been criminals or a villain to iron man or just a supernatural island.

Nobody heard him come in, but when he had dropped his backpack, Rhodey came into view almost instantly. His smile had dispersed when he saw Tony's long look.

"What's wrong?" He asked concerned.

"Huh?" Tony said as if just realizing that Rhodey was there. "Oh just...nothing."

"Pepper break up with you?"

"No...But she might as well have." Tony said looking away. "But don't worry I'm fine."

"That's a lie." Rhodey said.

"And you know it." Tony replied. "She said she needed space. Cause I'm not the Tony she fell in love with."

"Ouch, that's a bit rough. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It's just a break away from me. Cause I changed."

"She can't blame you for that, it was an accident."

"I know, but still, I've changed."

Nothing else was said and Tony just went to his room still stuck on Pepper's words. She could have broke up with him, but she didn't she just wanted space. She needed time to think things out and Tony wouldn't hold that against her. He couldn't hold anything against her.

He never would.

…

Weeks went by and Tony would just random tell Rhodey and Pepper a little detail that he forgot that wasn't all to important that he remembered. Rhodey would sit between the two so awkwardness was avoided easily until Pepper was done with her space. Pepper hadn't come around as much as she did before.

Pepper didn't know anymore. She didn't know who Tony was anymore. He was still the same, but different. She worried that he would be too different. She feared that he wasn't the Tony she loved. He wasn't. But that didn't mean she didn't love him.

But it was just hard. Though the more she thought of it, the more mad she got. She got mad at the island and the darts and the rescue. She got mad at Iron man and at Rhodey. She didn't know why she was mad at them, but it didn't mean she wasn't mad. She was just mad that it happened.

Then when she got mad she got sad and emotional. She couldn't stop thinking about how Tony was and that he smiled differently. He wasn't the same, yet he was. Deep down at least.

After a month of space, she sighed as she waited outside for Tony and Rhodey to get out of school already. She decided it was just best to get off the break, because all it was doing was breaking her down. She needed Tony by her side and not just as a temporary 'just a friend' deal. She needed him with her.

The instant the boys stepped out of the school, She was by Tony's side. The look on her face told Rhodey they needed alone time again. And that's what they got. Again, like last time, they were at the park bench.

"Tony, I'm sorry." She finally said.

He blinked. "You don't have to be."

"No I do. I took my confusion and turned it into something it didn't need to be. And it was a bit longer than I thought it would be."

She sat closer to him when she notice they were on opposite sides of the bench. She took his hand as she continued. "And I'd like to start over."

"So you don't need space no more?" Tony asked.

"Nope." She smiled.

He smiled too. "Fresh start then?"

This time it was Pepper who leaned forward to kiss Tony. He kissed her back and when she pulled back, she said, "Definitely."

He laughed and held her hand and stood up. She smiled and stood up as well and the two ran off to get something to eat.

Things may have changed, but nothing would break the two apart. Nothing ever could. Their bond was strong just as their friendship with Rhodey. Things would always be different, but they would never break apart.

…

Howard got the house, his job, his son, and pretty much everything back. Tony got his dad back and his memory.

Things turned out okay even with everything that had happened to them. Tony and Rhodey returned to saving the world and was eventually asked what had happened. People curious at what had happened to their armored hero. They may still have seen war machine a few times, but that didn't mean that they hadn't worried about iron man.

Everything turned out to be okay and Tony and Pepper were still together through all of it. Rhodey was always at their backs and watching over the two when they got stupid and did stupid things like get caught by the press kissing or holding hands, and all of a sudden it was a big story. Rhodey was always there to help them.

Bottom line: Nothing broke them apart. Even Amnesia.

**I had my own internal conflict about the whole 'space/break' part. But i thought it would be good to have since he did sorta change alot and was a lot less strong than i meant to make him. So that was a downer, so i put something to maybe make him seem stronger, yet emotional, and human. But i'm pretty sure i failed at that. **

**So this was the last and final chapter finally. Next up i'll be working extra hard on "victims vs suspects' and a filler chapter for 'fighting til the end.' AND someone not on here, but a guest that reads 'baby genius' commented for me to "hurry up. (please)" AND i'm pretty sure that person doesn't read this but maybe they do, and if they do, understand that i am trying my best, but i was pretty close to breaking, but i'm fine now, but i cant be rushed to finish something, i just came to a hard chapter and i'm working on it bit by bit. But hopefully i'll get it done. I'm not trying to point fingers at anyone and cant really cause its a guest, but i'm trying i just got to get the easy stories done, then move to the hard ones. **

**that said, hope you liked my story! **


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